The Last Journey
by PsychicDreams
Summary: Sequel to Angelic Embrace. Crystal Tokyo has been established, three of the four Inners are married, and Rei has had her baby. What could go wrong? Trying to establish Crystal Tokyo is one.
1. Prologue

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@atlantic.net. 

_The Last Journey_

_Prologue_

"What do you think about this one, Rei-chan?"

Minako watched as the black-haired woman turned to see the dress she was holding up. She spun a bit, clutching the dress to her form to show how it would fit. Rei sighed. "Not really."

"What exactly are you looking for, then, for the dress?" questioned Makoto, staring at the racks, a bit wide-eyed at the prices.

She knew that even after a year and a half she was still not comfortable with the amount spent on non-necessities, such as dresses instead of food. Her years of fighting hand to mouth during her street fighting career had implanted a strict regime of penny-pinching.

Rei, with a glance at the woman sitting down with a child in her arms, said, "I don't know. Something red, a symbol of Mars. But something that's really nice."

"So you're going to continue the tradition?"

The Soldier of War nodded absently.

The 'tradition' of the Senshi for Crystal Tokyo's royalty was odd, to say the least. Each had been married in the color of their choosing instead of the normal white. Makoto had been the first, married in forest green; Minako next, in pale gold; and Ami in deep sapphire. The colors of their planets, back when the Silver Millennium still existed.

The woman sitting down happened to be the Soldier of Wisdom, Sailor Mercury, holding Rei's eight month old son, Pyralis. He smiled happily and played with her bracelet, a gift from Serenity, with sapphires and diamonds all strung together in an arrangement of a flower.

A young lady behind the counter, who had green written all over her, stepped toward the nervously. "May I help you?"

They'd been in the store for the past hour and a half, and the girl had finally gotten up the courage to approach them. Her hazel darted around uncertainly and she fidgeted slightly.

"Do you have red wedding dresses?" asked Ami quietly.

"I don't know, madam. I will check in the back."

When she left, the women continued their rather fruitless search for a wedding dress for their friend. 

It had taken awhile before Rei was ready to get married again, not after her last one. Minako had to give Jace credit; his patience, when it had come to his soulmate, had been endless. If she had ever been unsure toward anything, he would always wait until she was ready before doing something. That included marriage, though their child was born and growing fast. 

The salesclerk return broke into the revere Minako had fallen into.

"I'm sorry, we don't. We do, however, have a few associates of different stores that might suit you. I can give you the names and addresses if you like."

Makoto nodded and followed the woman to get the list. Minako smiled suddenly, though she wasn't quite sure why. Ami stood up and handed Rei her son, who giggled happily at being with his mother again.

"So, Mrs. Indiano," Minako teased, watching Ami blush, "how're things at home?"

"Fine," she stuttered, turning redder.

"JUST fine or something better than fine?" commented Makoto, approaching her from behind. "I got the list."

"Good, let's go."

"Don't you think you can sidetrack the conversation," jumped in Rei.

"Well…I'm pregnant."

Minako squealed in excitement. "Really? That's great!"

"Aunty Rei!"

They turned as one to see a child with rose-pink hair running toward them, a huge smile plastered on her face. Small Lady Serenity was near a carbon copy of her mother, when it came to her sunny disposition.

"Aunty Rei, can I hold Pyr'lis?"

She still had trouble saying Pyralis, however. 

Rei smiled, though, and knelt down. "Here. If you could go back to the palace and watch him for me, I'd give you a special treat when I got back."

Even without the incentive, the child would have done it anyway, attested by her huge grin. "Yeah!"

She took off down the street, even if it was slower now that she had a smaller child with her. Minako looked above the child and saw the spires of the Crystal Palace, a place that she called home now. It was a pale blue, almost looking transparent though it was solid and lucid.

They spotted many people they knew as they meandered down the sidewalk to the next bridal store. Many waved to them, eliciting smiles from the women. She was so happy and introspective she didn't notice someone sneaking up from behind her. Her surprised shriek was only seconds as she whirled around, ready to defend herself. She relaxed at who it was.

"Haruka! Don't do that!" Minako paused. "Hey, when did you get in?"

The Senshi of the Outer Solar System weren't often in Crystal Tokyo, as was their wish, and duty, to keep threats away from the Earth. 

"Not long ago," answered her partner, and love, Michiru. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for a wedding dress," Rei answered. "I haven't found one that I like yet. And I would like it to be red."

"Of course," responded Haruka as Setsuna and Hotaru appeared at their side.

An idea nearly blindsided Minako. She smiled and sidled up to Setsuna, who looked suspicious at her angelic smile. 

"Sets, you like to design stuff right?"

"I know exactly where this is going and the answer is no."

Her face fell. "Why not?"

"Because as soon as I design the thing, you'll want me to make the dress too. I DON'T sew."

"I don't suppose anyone sews in this group?" Ami wistfully asked.

"Well," answered Hotaru hesitantly, "I don't sew, but I know someone who does. He might help us."

"He?"

"He's gay."

Hotaru's voice was soft and hesitant, simply because she didn't talk a lot. Minako figured that she didn't have much to say most of the time, or that if it wasn't pertinent to something she kept quiet. Either way, she spoke so softly most of the time that it was hard to hear her.

"Is he any good?" Rei asked after a moment.

"Yes, actually. I've seen a number of his gowns and they're quite good. Do you remember that dress that I gave to Serenity on her 25th birthday? That was his work."

"Really? I love that dress," the black-haired woman said, near-jealously at the thought of the pale cream dress hanging in the Queen's closet.

"As long as I don't have to make the dress, I'd gladly design it," Setsuna put in. 

"Well, Rei? What do you want to do?" prompted Haruka.

She nodded decisively. "I would love to do that. It gets me out of shopping for the rest of my life."

"Have you set a date yet?" questioned Michiru as they set off toward the palace.

"In five months, July 20."

"Where?"

"Back at my Shrine," she answered, "when the cherry blossoms fall."

As Sailor Mars, Rei didn't have much time to tend to her beloved temple, Hikawa Shrine, but she had found a few priests of the same order willing to do it for her while she guarded the Queen and King, as long as she checked in every once and a while. 

The normal guards opened the door for them as they approached, talking amongst themselves. No sooner did they enter, however, did a figure hurtle toward them. Haruka barely managed to brace herself as the Queen bear-hugged her hard. "I'm so happy you're back," was what Minako thought she said, though it came out muffled, sounding like, "I's happ'you ba'."

"I'm glad to see you too, Your Majesty," Haruka said, smiling.

Minako stared at her then glanced around, seeing the number of stares of the maids and such. It suddenly clicked why the honorific: only when they were alone did they ever drop it, when they weren't monarchs only people.

"Let's let them settle in," Ami suggested as the Queen bear-hugged each of the four Soldiers newly returned.

A guard slowly approached and respectfully bowed. "Your Majesty Serenity? His Majesty Endymion requests to tell you to please come back to the Throne Room."

"You didn't just leave the diplomats and all, did you Majesty?" asked Ami, appalled. "You can't do that!"

Serenity pouted a bit. "Fine, I'll go back. By the way, have you seen Small Lady?"

"She ran into us when we were out in Crystal Tokyo. I asked her to watch Pyralis for me while we were gone."

The Queen nodded at Rei, suddenly regal as a monarch of old and not the young woman she had been moments before. Even after a year and a half, Minako still found her ability to change like that stunning, if not shocking.

Her walk changed to a graceful waltz as she passed the guard to head back to the Throne Room. On her regally tilted head, sat a silver and amber crown twinkling in the light. Around her neck was a star-shaped pendant, a small rosebud blooming in the center, a gift given to her by her husband, Endymion. 

"I'll never get used to that," Rei commented as the Outer Senshi left them to go to their rooms.

"Her seeming so childish one minute then regal the next?" supplied Makoto. "Yeah, I know. Can you remember back in the Silver Millennium? Her as a princess? She didn't even come close to her now…when she's regal that is."

They laughed at the memories, though some were quite a bit fuzzy. Then again, Minako didn't like dwelling on the past any more than she had to. Even the recent past she hated, hated with a passion.

Her failure to protect Usagi when she was truly in need, when Daray took her, beat against every instinct she had. While they had gotten her back, it still hurt to know that they had lost her in the first place. Makoto had told them what Nick had said, back before the final battle with Daray:

_'Nick sat down next to her stomach and ran his hand through her hair, staring into space. "You will survive this battle, Mako-chan. I shall make sure of that. You shall see your princess. In that way I guess we Shitennou were blessed over the Senshi."_

_Makoto sat up and took out the band in her hair. "What do you mean?"_

_He looked at her. "Well, we knew Mamoru, could talk to him, protect him. Even when he fell when the princess was taken, we had had the chance to see him and know him. You never had that feeling, never even saw your princess in this life."' _

Yes, she had to agree that they were blessed over the Senshi. The chance to know, to grow up, to live, with their liege and friend…it was a gift, a blessing over that of anything else that she'd ever conceive of in her life…

"…ko? Minako?"

"Huh?" she started as she heard Makoto's voice.

"I was just asking, since Ami has admitted that she's pregnant, I was wondering. Are you going to have a child with Keagan?"

Minako's thoughts grew grim. "I don't think I can have children."

End Prologue.

Thank you for reading this far. This is a bit of a taste of what this story is about. For those of you who liked my battles and all, never fear, those will be here in this too, though it won't be a heavily focused point.


	2. Chapter 01: Blessing or Curse?

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@atlantic.net. 

I guess I should mention this, in case it gets confusing about how long its been since the epilogue of Angelic Embrace. It's been six to seven months, not another year and a half.

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 1: Blessing or Curse?_

There was a short silence after Minako's statement. "Are you certain, Minako-chan?" Ami asked hesitantly.

"Near positive. Keagan and I have been…trying for a baby and…" She trailed off, her face closed off. She stalked down the hallway without another word. Ami, with a glance at them, ran to catch up with her.

Makoto watched them go. After a moment she opened the window that she had somehow managed to stop by. She leaned her elbows on the inside windowsill, staring out at the sky.

Rei approached her slowly. "Wandering feet?" she asked lowly.

Her green eyes settled on the shorter woman. She sighed in contemplation and shrugged after a moment. "I don't know, really. I mean, I remember who I was and who I am, but still…there's that part of me that I grew up as, that spent six years street fighting, that's resentful of staying here. That part of me is angry that I don't have a choice but staying here and being a Senshi."

"Mako-chan," Rei said at last, "let me show you a few things. Follow me."

The brown-haired woman trailed behind her as she led them to an open, double door. From the shadows, they observed the Queen and King of Crystal Tokyo talking and negotiating, surrounded by four men. The sheer number of people in the room nearly packed it all and Makoto thought that she would be hard pressed to find a place to breathe easily.

"See them, Mako-chan? Those two people are greatest I've ever met. They are the ones that protect the people so they can have the wandering feet, the choice to do or go wherever they want. And we protect them so they can protect the Earth."

She turned and led her to a lift hidden discreetly in a corner of the hall. There were so many floors and levels in the palace that having stairs instead of some kind of elevator would have been inconceivable.

They waited in silence as they went up, the two of them, in the main spire. She finally stopped it and they stepped out, into a room that had one wall made entirely of glass. The sunlight streamed in unimpaired and lit the room so bright it almost hurt her eyes. 

The room itself was filled with exercise machines and other workout instruments. The entire floor made as a gym, so that they could stay in shape. Of the forty levels in the main spire of the palace, it was only two levels lower, on the thirty-eighth. Makoto couldn't remember going as high as this, since she always worked out on her own for an hour or two every day.

"Come here, Mako-chan."

She approached the windowed wall and looked down at the city that sprawled below them. From the height they were at, the people looked like little black specs and buildings barely anything above that. It almost looked like an ant swarm, with the people moving constantly back and forth from somewhere.

"You don't have wandering feet, Kino Makoto, you have a feeling of unhappiness toward the fact that you didn't seem to have a choice in becoming a Senshi. I know, because I've felt it to, and all for two people right? But you see those people? We're not just protecting two people, we're protecting them. We're protecting millions, the entire populous of Earth.

"The reason you feel this desire to move around the world and do your own thing is because during the Silver Millennium, you never had this chance. You never once felt this way, because Serenity was there. She was the one that gave us a contentedness, a feeling of painfulness if we moved away from her. But she wasn't here, was she? I know how you feel, Mako-chan. We were the hardest ones to get to remember. But that feeling, that part of you that feels resentful…we have no right to feel that way because we are blessed over any other."

Makoto sat down heavily on the one of the benches. "What do you mean blessed?"

Rei squatted on her toes, holding on slightly to Makoto's arm to keep balanced. Her quiet voice was louder than a yell. "Whenever I feel as if I want to be somewhere else, of I'm resentful of Sailor Mars, I just remind myself of Serenity and realize how blessed I am to be a Senshi."

"I don't get it."

"If I hadn't been a Senshi, I would have no reason to talk to Serenity. I would have no reason to become friends with her, know her. She's my best friend, Mako-chan, but she wouldn't be if I hadn't been a Senshi. It may be a burden at first, something I felt resentful of, but then all I have to do is think about her and I know that if I hadn't been a Senshi, I wouldn't have given her a chance to be my friend. Don't you see it, Mako-chan? We're blessed over other people because we have the chance to know, to feel, with Serenity. Others can only be content with seeing who she is at a distance because they can never get close."

Makoto smiled a little. "Thanks, Rei-chan."

Rei stood up. "Don't thank me; you don't need to."

In the silence, the lift docking at their floor was easily heard. Makoto started; she hadn't realized it had gone down. Serenity's child entered, carrying a crying Pyralis. Rei immediately picked him up and within minutes, the baby was calm again and smiling. Makoto marveled at her talent.

"Come on, let's go see what Serenity and Endymion are doing," the black-haired woman suggested.

They rode the lift down and after Chibiusa ran off, entered the throne room, which was empty of all except the Shitennou and royalty. Serenity rubbed her forehead in a tired gesture and there were worry lines on Endymion's forehead.

"What's the matter?" Makoto asked as they approached the thrones.

"They're worried about tomorrow."

"Ah," Rei muttered knowingly.

Tomorrow was the first day Serenity and Endymion would leave Crystal Tokyo; the first day she would meet with all the other heads of states, including the leading world power, the United States. How would they react to Crystal Tokyo's creation?

"Don't worry so much," advised Jadeite. "I mean, what are they going to do about it even if they don't agree, which I'm positive they will?"

"Why are you so sure?" asked Endymion wearily.

He winked at them and straightened his Shitennou armor. "Just trust me. There won't be any problems."

"We'll want tight security," outlined Kunzite after a minute to his comrades. "I don't want to chance any kind of attempt at the King and Queen or otherwise. Besides, those reporters are a damn nuisance. How many have we had to turn away at the gates?"

"Nothing is going to happen to us, Kunzite." Serenity took a turn at reassurance to the head Shitennou. "And you don't turn all the people away. What about that one man that came in?"

"He was a novelist," contradicted the silver man, "he wasn't a reporter. He wanted to write a book about the palace and describe the various hallways and where they led. There's a difference between a reporter and a novelist."

"Only you would make that distinction," the Queen muttered under her breath.

Nephrite wrapped his arms around Makoto's neck as she moved away from the bickering group a little. "Hey, dove."

"Hi," she responded quietly.

"Is something bothering you? You've been acting weird all day."

"I'm fine!" she snapped, then cringed. "I'm sorry. I don't know, I just feel weird."

Nephrite was silent for a moment as he thought. "Could it be that this is the anniversary day that Serenity was taken when she was fourteen that bothers you?"

She looked at the walls. "I don't know, but probably. I feel restless today; I can't stay in one place for long."

"Care to let me take my hand at analyzing?"

"Sure."

"You feel restless because subconsciously, you're worried about what will happen on this day. Your logic states that nothing will happen, but your heart is not so sure, hence the unable to stay in one place for long."

"Quite adept at this sort of thing, aren't you?"

He shrugged and she could almost feel him smile. "I try."

"Minako said she doesn't think she can have children," she whispered at last, once the silence between them had gone too long.

His head moved, as if he was glancing behind at Kunzite. "I know. Kunzite's said he thought so too, but never around her. He…really wants children and from what I've heard, so does Minako."

"Ami will most likely test her, but what do we do if she can't? It will devastate her."

Nephrite sighed into her hair. "I don't know. But perhaps there is something to be done, if it comes out that this is the case."

"If you're suggesting medicinal herbs or something that will just automatically do the job," she told him dryly, "then let me tell you something: that only happens in bad stories and fairytales. There is no such thing as miracles or guardian angels or plants that make things all better."

He shifted slightly behind her. "That's a rather cynical observation."

"It's not cynical, it's the truth."

She pulled away from him and stalked toward the door. Makoto glanced behind her once to see Nephrite with a sad and understanding look on his face, rather than anger. She had a pang of guilt as she left, just now realizing that she had taken Minako's loss and hurt of possibly no children as her own and just as close to her heart.

It lifted her spirits somewhat as she realized the depths of her feelings for her friends. Suddenly, the thought occurred to her. It was just as improbable as the healing plants, but only this time, it had a higher rate of success.

She jogged down the hall to Hotaru's room, hoping to get a chance to talk to the woman before she had to pack up her things for their two week conference with the heads of states starting tomorrow.

End Chapter 1

This was somewhat hard to write, as I didn't know how to go about this chapter. However, I have Chapter 2 all mapped out so it won't be as long as coming as this one was. Thank you for sticking with this story so far. I know I've been busy with Army of Immortals and Return of the Valkyries, but since I'd just added in two more chapters each, I got to working on this one.


	3. Chapter 02: Walk of the Valkyrie

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@atlantic.net. 

I guess I should mention this, in case it gets confusing about how long its been since the epilogue of Angelic Embrace. It's been six to seven months, not another year and a half.

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 2: Walk of the Valkyrie_

"In a world of democracy, a monarchy ruled by a king and queen is a backward step, wouldn't you say?"

Even though he stood as still as stone, the perfection of bodyguard that even other agents could not master, he wanted to fidget and grit his teeth. Though he was sure that logically, perhaps, the President of the United States had a point, the man wasn't listening to the whole discussion…at least not to Kunzite's mind.

President Bush was older in the world of politics, but that didn't mean he had a monopoly on what was logical. He reflected briefly on when they had entered the room: they had ended up fashionably late, though none of that their fault. His wife, Venus, and her Senshi had entered first, tall and so proud. The light streaming in from the protected windows had shined down upon them, almost giving them sparkling body halos. 

Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion had entered next, their arms linked like in the old days. His Shitennou had brought up the rear, dressed to the hilt in their specific armor and literally shining as the sun touched on them. Without a doubt, they had made an impression that none would forget.

The breeze managed to flutter his cape a bit, but it died soon after. It had been so hot after five hours of debating that many of the leading presidents, Serenity and Endymion among them, had pleaded to have the windows opened.

He glanced around quickly, as he usually did to make sure everything was the same as the last hour. Kunzite would not risk his monarchs' lives just because he didn't notice someone entering. Everything was the same as before.

The leader of the Shitennou sighed. It had been about an hour and a half since they had taken their third round of guard duty. To give a rest to the 'agents', the Senshi and Shitennou switched off every hour or so. At first, it had startled a few of the presidents, the US one among them, but it had become so commonplace and so hot that no one noticed anymore.

Kunzite felt sorry for the other secret service agents for various leaders. They were all wearing straight black or very dark brown. Contrary to what they might think, looking at the Shitennou, Kunzite was not hot. Warm, yes, but not hot as they must be in those clothes.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Jadeite listening to his earpiece closely. His lips twitched as if someone had said something funny.

He frowned. If Jadeite was talking to Mars instead of paying attention, he would seriously have words with him when they were allowed to go to their hotel rooms. But his comrade simply raised his eyebrows at him and nodded to the door, signaling with his hand the sign-language number twenty.

With a silent sigh, he relaxed a little and his frown disappeared. In twenty minutes, the Senshi would relieve them of guard duty and he could _sit down._

"You would be right, ordinarily," Endymion replied to a comment by the British Prime Minister, "but remember there has always been an unwritten and unspoken rule, that is kept and only recently been introduced, that it is all right with the council of the heads of states that each country has a right to have it's own way of governing."

"Yes, that is true," jumped in the French Prime Minister, "which is something that I believe the British feel unnecessary, as they usually prefer to have everyone following their own democracy."

"Now that is outrageous!"

Both opposing Prime Ministers began a heated argument that no one paid any attention to. Over the past five hours, they had gotten into so many arguments that it was considered commonplace to hear one spouting at every turn.

He glanced back at President Bush. It was without a doubt that whatever decision concerning Crystal Tokyo's standing in the council that the British government would stand by him, and vice versa. If it meant being opposed to something England seconded, the French would side with the opposite, even if it meant supporting Crystal Tokyo though they might secretly agree with the verdict.

Serenity stood, drawing everyone's attention. "Please, listen to me. I know this has been stewing in the backs of everyone's minds so let me lay it to rest. Crystal Tokyo is not out for a ruling seat, nor a world power. We simply wish to be accepted by the council for what we are." She sat.

The current leader of Russia, the countries by all accounts surprising the entire world by managing to form a unified nation again though with none of their previous power, nodded and commented, "But even if the council doesn't accept you, you'll continue your country as you see fit even if it means isolating yourselves away from us. This is only a formality on your part, isn't it? A courtesy to let us know and give us a chance to grasp what we think of you."

The monarchs looked at him, but by their silence it was obvious they couldn't deny the truth of what he said.

"Really," interjected Bush with surprise in his voice. "Really?"

"We don't deny that what he said is true," Endymion answered carefully. "We would like you to understand us and accept us as you, as individual countries, see fit, but we do not need your approval to continue what we have built. It would please us if you understood and accepted us, but it is as the President of Russia said: We'll continue our country even if it means isolating ourselves from everyone else."

"I think we have covered much today," spoke the President of Spain in the ensuing silence. "Let's call it a day and go back to our hotels."

The doors opened as Serenity and Endymion stood up. Kunzite nodded at the Senshi, pleased to see they were alert and ready for the complicated leave of their King and Queen. Surrounded by the Shitennou, they left the room.

With two Senshi, Jupiter and Mercury, further behind and two, Venus and Mars, in front, they left the building lobby. Flashes from reporter's cameras threatened to blind him and they crowded against the police security holding them back. Venus and Mars hurried forward to the limousine door and held it open for the monarchs as they made their way, as quickly as they could without seeming to hasten, toward it.

Just as the King was about to get in, after assisting his wife, a reporter managed to slip under a policeman's arm and began to jog for a better picture.

He didn't even get a single picture that day because Venus, who had been much closer, knocked him to the ground and inadvertently, or perhaps deliberately (Kunzite was never sure), managed to get his camera open, exposing the film to the sunlight and ruining any shots he'd had.

Kunzite could almost feel her chilling gaze as she stared down at him, the entire area silenced in shock. It turned the almost bone-searing heat into something near the artic. Slowly, with deliberate steps and measure glances, she slid into the car door after Endymion. With a silent sigh of…relief perhaps, Kunzite got into the limousine and closed the door.

It drove down the street, disappearing quickly, and the silence still fell among the reporters and audience witness to the sheer strength of a woman to take down a 6'3 man; taken down by a woman who was barely over 5'4.

She collapsed down into the chair, exhausted though she had done nothing but stand in one place and guard her monarchs and friends. Not five minutes ago, Serenity and Endymion had gone to their bedroom and were fast asleep.

Jupiter didn't know how they did it; how they had managed to survive one of those meetings. And they were scheduled for meetings for the entire week! That didn't even include any extra meetings or prolonged stays. Venus would have to let the Outers know if they stayed any longer than planned.

The four Senshi of the Outer Solar System had returned from their patrolling and constant vigilance of outside threats only to guard the palace and manage to take care of any problems until the rulers returned. She only hoped that no problems requiring decisions from either the King of Queen arose. It would only put a strain on them further, as their attention would have to divide itself between what was going on in front of them and what was going on back at their kingdom.

"Everyone's tired, huh," Jadeite commented as he watched the eight of them sit around without saying a thing.

"Pretty much," responded Mars. The topic she next touched upon was so out of the blue that Jupiter was startled for a moment. "We haven't talked much about what you used to do before we met you. We know Kunzite used to own a bank chain, but what about the rest of you?"

"Yeah," Mercury picked up. "We've known and married each of you, yet we know nothing about you. I guess there hasn't been time to answer any questions over the last year, but…"

"You still want to know," Zoisite supplied with a grin at his very recent wife. It had only been two months since they had gotten back from their honeymoon, reflected Jupiter, and already the woman was pregnant. She wasn't quite sure how prepared they were for a child…

"Well," Jadeite murmured, letting his head fall back on the headrest of his seat. "I actually worked in a department store. I was management, but due from a promotion when Endy called."

She smiled a little, thinking about how 'Endy' had called. Once Pluto had taken some action to free the Princess, he had known it and reacted to it. Though in a coma for ten years, he had tossed and turned so much that he would fall off his bed. They had managed to tie him down so that when he thrashed around, the bones in his atrophied muscles wouldn't shatter.

"What about you Nephrite?" prompted Venus, leaning forward to look at him as she saw his rather reserved expression.

"…It's not all that important…"

"Come on, tell us," cajoled Mars.

"…It's not as great as the others'…"

As one, the Senshi turned to Jupiter. Her smile widened just a little as she turned to her husband. "Nephrite, if you don't tell us, we'll find someone else who will," she told him and glanced pointedly at Jadeite, who they all knew had serious trouble keeping something secret.

"All right! I was a…" He mumbled the words so they couldn't understand it. The four of them leaned forward some more.

"Come on, a little louder, hon."

"I was a professor."

Mercury nearly jumped and her eyes sparkled. "Really? What did you teach?"

Nephrite looked somewhat gratified that she seemed to think it was as important as his friends'. "I taught astronomy."

"What else?" snickered Jadeite good-naturedly. 

"What did you do, Zoisite?" Venus interrupted, ignoring Mars' husband.

"I worked in a law office firm."

"Were you a lawyer, paralegal, what?"

"I was a lawyer."

"Married a rich guy, did ya, Mercury?" teased Mars.

She blushed. "I hadn't known…"

"We know, we're just messin' with you," Jupiter reassured her.

There was a timid knock on the door and Kunzite heaved himself out of the chair to answer it. A young man, obviously some kind of waiter, had a cart of food in front of him. "This was sent up to you as you ordered."

Jupiter could see his eyes growing suspicious. She understood it well; _she_ certainly hadn't ordered anything.

But Nephrite and Jadeite got up and came to the door. "Thanks. We're starving." A five dollar bill slid into his hand and they pulled the cart in. Finally, the somewhat accusing stares of their comrades penetrated their seeming disregard.

"What?" demanded Jadeite.

"You ordered room service?" asked Kunzite slowly, as if he was trying to hold in his anger. "And you didn't tell us you had? We could have killed the boy!"

"Oh come on, it's not like it's a big deal," placated Nephrite. "We ordered stuff for everybody and just a little extra than normal for Mercury."

"Why me?" the subject in question asked, perplexed. "I should think I would eat less, since I'm the smallest of us."

"Ah, but you're eating for two now," Jadeite said with a wink.

She blushed.

"I had a sister who was pregnant not once but three times, ending with girls each time. I know how much _she ate and you'll eat more than her since your metabolism or something is higher than hers since you're a Senshi. Need more nourishment, you do," he ended philosophically._

Mars smacked him lightly on his arm, but her wide smile only added to his. "He also has a wife that's a Senshi who was pregnant too and he knows how much _I _ate."

"No shame, eh Mars?" commented Venus, somewhat sadly at the mention of children.

Everyone noticed the tone, but forced themselves not to react. It took every ounce of Jupiter's being not to jump up and tell her what she knew: that it might indeed be possible to have children.

Her talk with Saturn had been fruitful and when Pluto had joined in, it had come down to outright joyous. According to the Senshi of Time, by laws of the physics that applied to _them only, Venus could have children naturally. But when Jupiter had explained what her friend had told them, her expression had turned to something thoughtful._

_"I guess it could have changed. You see, I know in the other timeline, the one I told you about, Minako would have children. I don't know if in this timeline she doesn't," Pluto told her carefully._

_Saturn had been quiet while she spoke. "With Mercury, I have made many scans of the Senshi on her insistence. I noticed something a bit odd with her and that must have been it. It was almost like she was missing something the others had. I think I can heal that though."_

_"Heal?"_

_"She wasn't born with no ability to have children," the black haired woman said gently. "Now that I think about it, there was a bit of damage there. It was a small amount and not life threatening which is why I hadn't healed it before. It is not uncommon for girls who ride bicycles a lot or did a lot of other gymnastics to injure themselves like that. It caused her no pain; I doubt she even thought that perhaps she was born with the ability."_

_Pluto nodded. "I'm sure that when the timeline diverged and this one came into prominence, something must have happened and it injured Minako. Things change in timelines all the time, even by a simple action. Your coming to Saturn and I changes the course of this timeline as well."_

_"Can you heal her though?" Makoto persisted._

_Saturn nodded slowly. "I can indeed. And I would gladly do that for her…"_

"Let's eat! I'm starving," Zoisite said in the ensuing silence.

It was a meal that was accomplished in near silence. Only the occasional murmur of questions about their husbands interrupted the quiet.

"What's going on Makoto? You look like the cat that swallowed the proverbial canary," her husband whispered in his ear.

With a glance at Venus, she leaned in close and whispered in his ear, on the pretext of kissing him. His eyes widened slightly in response and a smile grew to engulf his face.

"I love you, Makoto."

She smiled fit to encompass the sky. "I love you too, Nick. Let's get to bed. There'll be a long day tomorrow."

End Chapter 2.

Told you this chapter would be up soon! This was so easy to write, I wish all my chapters were this easy. And I thought of a great idea to incorporate into this fanfiction, so watch out! I'm really happy with this chapter. 

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my fanfictions, especially the ones that are still being worked on. It makes them go much faster and makes me happy to know that someone is reading them and likes them enough to say so.


	4. Chapter 03: Last Ninja

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@atlantic.net. 

I guess I should mention this, in case it gets confusing about how long it has been since the epilogue of Angelic Embrace. It's been six to seven months, not another year and a half.

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 3: Last Ninja_

_She willed her wings into existence. Due to the cumbersome way of sitting with them, they had learned to summon when they were or were not on her Senshi uniform. Leaping high into the air, she surveyed the ruins in rage, looking for the one thing that she wanted to destroy above all else._

_Screaming a war cry, she dove, spotting the man hurrying for safety._

_"Final BURST!"_

_The attack more concentrated than she had ever made it, the ball of fire that surrounded her flew down to the scurrying figure away from her terrifying wrath…_

Rei sat up, soaked with sweat. A worse nightmare than this she had never had before. Her psychic sense was screaming at her, like a choir of church bells on a Sunday morning.

Jace's arm came up and pulled her back down next to her. As her head touched the pillow, she noticed that he hadn't even opened his eyes or moved any other muscle. "Go to sleep. Tell us in the morning."

"But…I'm worried."

"I thought you would have been tired out by now."

She blushed. "Jace!"

He smiled and finally his eyelids lifted with decidedly wicked gleam. "If you energy to worry, then it should be put to better use."

His lips descended on hers, distracting her until he was settled over top of her. She forgot her worries for the next few subsequent hours.

"Be on your guard then," Kunzite told them seriously after hearing about Rei's alarming premonition.

"Don't we always?" quipped Jace, but this time he was more than half serious.

"Be more so," Venus nearly snapped at him. "This is not the time for joking around."

The group surrounded the monarchs and headed out of the hotel. Their wary eyes didn't spot any would be assassins on the way to the limousine nor on the way into the building. But Venus' nerves were taunt with tension and anxiety. There would be no changing between Senshi and Shitennou. All around protection was the only thing she would afford.

The sight of them so protective aroused the interest and suspicions of the other agents. One approached her as other presidents were arriving. By a possible fluke, it was one of the US president's own. (Another fluke that Serenity and Endymion had gotten to the building early? Venus wasn't entirely sure it was in Serenity's genes to be able to wake up early, but there they were nonetheless).

"A reason for over-precaution?"

She barely gave him a glance. "Mars is psychic; she had a premonition last night. While nothing may happen, I prefer to be on guard."

"Is Mars…?"

"She's my second-in-command and yes, she is an authentic psychic. One does not have to have the gift to know who does."

"Would you recommend the other agents to be on guard as well?" he asked, deadly serious.

Venus hesitated slightly and glanced at Kunzite. Her husband just barely nodded, but it was enough to let her know what he thought was proper. "Yes, I would recommend it. While the premonition specifically detailed about Serenity and Endymion, it gave no real information before or during the actual assassination. I would be on guard, if you will trust a protector with stranger powers than you can ever imagine."

"And with stranger dress too," he joked, laughing at his own witticism.

She was not amused.

"While you may jibe at what I wear, it will provide more protection than what you're wearing."

Looking properly affronted and abashed, he moved away to let his companions know.

"Nice rebuttal, Venus," Zoisite approved. "Correct too, come to think of that."

Not much happened; which did nothing to reassure the ever vigilant commander. If anything, it worried her further. She was jumpy that when Kunzite touched her arm, she nearly punched him. Since the discussions were well underway, it was just as well she managed to contain her nerves by the barest of margins.

"Relax a little. You're so uptight that if something _were_ to happen, you won't be able to act," he whispered in her ear.

His voice managed to calm her a little. "You're right, but I can't help it."

A man shifted to her right just as she spoke and her eyes narrowed when she didn't recognize him. He had black hair and an open face. She had no reason to suspect the normally forgettable man, but that was the _reason_ she suspected him. Not once, not even in the Silver Millennium had she ever believed in coincidences. And she didn't believe that he was harmless.

"You see that man, Kunzite?"

"The black haired one?" he responded, never looking at him.

"Yeah. You suspect him too?"

"Absolutely."

The circular room the dignitaries were in threatened to overwhelm her as she thought about how much room she would need to get off one of her attacks. There was no way she would be able physically reach him in time if he chose to attack. A bullet was just as effective as a magical bombardment. More dangerous even, for them anyway.

It wasn't a particularly large room. Windows were set at strategic intervals, one being straight opposite of her. Two were already open, as the day was turning out to be as hot as yesterday. The long bow at her back waved in the nonexistent breeze as she shifted her weight. The star on her choker glinted in the unbearably bright sunlight.

She was so preoccupied with her thoughts she almost didn't move fast enough.

The bullet whined toward Endymion's chest as another headed for his wife's. Jadeite, who happened to be closest to the King, jumped in front and braced himself for the impact of the small but lethal shot. Mars, with an instant thought her white but slightly reddish tinted wings appearing, covered her friend, her back toward the oncoming threat. 

Both bullets pinged harmlessly off the armor of Jadeite and the other off of Mars' protective wings.

While that was happening, Venus had lost no time setting off an attack of her own. She only hoped it would avoid hitting any innocent bystanders.

"Star Children!"

She managed to twirl once and concentrate the beams into one massive strike, the stars floating around it in a deadly spiral pattern. The man didn't move, only stared in horror and disbelief at what was heading his way. She could see in his eyes that he had never imagined anything like this ever existed.

There was not even a smote of dust left once the attack had finished. Admittedly, she admitted that perhaps it had too much power in it, but the adrenaline had only added more than she needed. Her anxiety, her fear…their powers fed on their emotions. She was only glad that she had not called on her Silver Dragon. It would have probably destroyed the entire building, feeding off her feelings. It had been a miracle she had had enough control to change her area-effect attack into a single massive beam. 

The Prime Minister of England lifted his head slightly and looked behind him, where the man had hidden. His eyes round with fear, he turned and stared at her. Silence filled the room.

Mars straightened, seeing the threat gone and folded her wings. Only then did she notice that Jupiter and Mercury had protected Serenity as well, their wings spread to the limits. It was an added point that Mercury had found out they were impervious to most things and they made an effective shell. Though as Serenity pointed out constantly, one drawback: it could only hold it up for so long against a strong on slot of attack.

Jadeite looked to have no harm come to him, but he had been joined by Nephrite and Zoisite. Kunzite was just putting his throwing dagger away when she turned to him. 

"What the hell—?" interrupted the President of the United States shakily.

"That, my dear president," answered Zoisite acidly, "is why we are quite able to take care of our country against any siege or war. We are from a time long ago when magic _did flourish. When we were born, we were lucky enough to be bestowed with that power again to protect Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion."_

"Do all people in Crystal Tokyo have magic?" demanded the Prime Minister of France, obviously wondering if he should be concerned about an invasion by the 'magical' people.

"No. Only Neo Queen Serenity, King Endymion, the Senshi and the Shitennou have magic," responded Mercury quietly.

"I think we need to conclude today's discussion," Kunzite said at large, with a worried glance at his monarchs, who did not seem to have recovered from the attempted assassination.

A few other dignitaries obviously hadn't either and an all around agreement swept the room.

"Are you sure you two are all right?" Jupiter asked for the third time.

Endymion gave her a weak smile. "We're fine." Slowly he closed the bedroom door.

"I don't believe you," she responded, but quietly. In another moment she had joined them in the main room.

"Congratulations, everyone," Kunzite murmured, leaning back in his chair. "We acted perfectly in a crisis."

But no one felt like celebrating, least of all Venus.

"Well, we may have, but Endymion and Serenity certainly didn't," responded Jadeite, voicing everyone's concern.

"I thought they were in shock for a moment myself," admitted Nephrite. "I worried they had been injured, they didn't move for so long. Endymion's in a better state than Serenity, but not by much."

"I think the fact that there was an assassination on them is what did it," Mercury finally said. "It's just so implausible back at Crystal Tokyo and it never happened in the Silver Millennium. Neither was prepared for it. Sure, we told them to worry about assassination attempts, but I don't think, in their heart of hearts, they took us seriously."

"I want to know who bungled the security!" protested Mars angrily. "How could the police let a man with a gun into the building?!"

"Maybe the guard was bought?" Venus suggested gloomily. "It's not inconceivable. It happens all the time."

"But what would have happened if we hadn't been there? Or if one of us wasn't there?" demanded Zoisite.

"Serenity and Endymion would have died," her husband whispered, a mixture of emotions in his voice.

"That's my point! They should be thinking about that!"

"We can't do anything about it now. How's your armor, Jadeite?" questioned Venus, turning to things she could understand.

The warrior looked down at his breastplate. "Just the smallest of dents. It'll be fixed once I take it off."

"How about you Mars? No injuries?"

She shook her head. "Not one. It didn't get past the protective shielding of my wings."

"Mercury, how many bullets would it have protected Serenity from?"

Soldier of Wisdom hesitantly answered. "About three bullets each pair of wings."

"So you're saying that if it was three bullets each and all four of us were standing in front of Serenity and Endymion," Jupiter began, "then we could stop twelve bullets without being injured?"

"Yes. Once those three bullets hit, the shield will break down and the bullets will hit us. It will hold longer than that against a magical barrage, since that is what it is designed for, but for only a certain amount of time, which varies depending on how powerful the magic is."

"Let's get some rest."

She crawled into bed and felt her husband slide in next to her. His lips touched the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine and arousing her. But she turned quickly and held him off. He sat up on his elbow slightly. "What's the matter?"

Minako left the bed and flipped on the light. Her pale gold underwear and short golden shirt shifted slightly as she stared at him. "Keagan, why?"

"Why what?" he asked, his eyes trailing up and down her form. They melted with passion and longing. 

She understood how he felt; she couldn't help feeling it whenever she saw him, covers clumped at his waist and his pale bronze chest rippling with well-developed muscles.

"Why do you stay with me? I can't bear you any children."

He sat up completely, instantly serious and the longing, though in evident, pushed as far back as he could. "Minako, what is this about?"

She paced. "You should be with someone who can bear you children. I know you want them."

"I stay with you because I love you, Minako!" he hissed, and she was surprised to hear well-hidden anger in his voice. "So you can't have children. So what? You want me to leave you, my soulmate, just because you can't have children? Do you think so lowly of me as that?"

Her feet stopped pacing and she stared at him, further shocked at the slight wetness on his cheek.

"Keagan," she whispered, crawling up next to him and putting her arms around him, "I'm sorry. I…just thought that I wasn't worthy of you. Especially since…we both want children and I can't have any."

"No offense, Minako, but you don't have any right to choose who is worthy of me and who is not. _I say who is worthy of me, not anyone else." His eyes, when he locked eyes with her, filled with suppressed tears. "Please don't let the fact that you can't have children ruin our marriage! I love you, more than life, but I don't want to spend my entire life with someone who feels guilty because she can't have children."_

She buried her face in his chest, unable to see his tears any longer. "I didn't know I was making you so unhappy. I don't mean to brood about it, but..."

"Just because you can't have children doesn't mean I don't love you."

Her grip tightened around his shoulders. "I know; I'm sorry."

Keagan laid her down slowly and touched his forehead to hers. "I'm just glad we got that out of the way."

Minako smiled and kissed him, pulling him close…

End Chapter 3.

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I've been trying to finish up Army of Immortals. A little Minako/Kunzite action for shippers of that couple. (Wink). 


	5. Chapter 04: Compounded Knowledge

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@atlantic.net. 

I guess I should mention this, in case it gets confusing about how long it has been since the epilogue of Angelic Embrace. It's been six to seven months, not another year and a half.

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 4: Compounded Knowledge_

"Senshi, we're going home!"

Serenity hadn't been this excited since they left Crystal Tokyo. She practically bounced around the room, and Mars could feel the happiness oozing out of her every pore.

"It will be a relief to see people who don't look on us with distrust," commented Zoisite quietly. "It's been the week of hell."

Endymion, standing next to him, smiled. "I would say you don't know the half of it, but then you were there, so you know _more_ than the half of it."

"I've missed Pyralis," Jadeite murmured. "I can't wait to see him."

"Neither can I," Mars told her husband as they got in the car that would take them to the private jet.

As they were about to board the plane, a young man came running up. "Your Majesties," he managed to gasp out, clearly unfamiliar with the phrase among its more contemporaries, "I have a message for you. From President Bush."

"What is it?"

"He asked that you stay another week and for a few private conferences."

"I'm sorry," Endymion responded, "but please tell President Bush that we are ready to leave. He should have told us earlier about this. But tell him if he truly wishes to speak to us, he may come to Crystal Tokyo and we will see him there."

The man nodded and glanced nervously at Mars and her companions. Obviously the news, and rumors, of their powers had gotten out. 

They made their way up the stairs to the jet just as he pulled out a gun. It was so crowded on the staircase, there was not much movement to be had. As if it had a will of its own, the bullet managed to find one of the few crevices of Nephrite's armor as he jumped in front of the King.

Learning from past mistakes, Jupiter, the closest to him, kicked out and knocked the gun from his hand. He attempted to run, but could not best the green Senshi in speed. She drug him back, kicking and screaming, her face set as stone when she looked upon her husband, bleeding on the stairs.

"Two assassination attempts? In the same week?" Mars said incredulously as they, with their prisoner, took off in the jet.

"Do you think that the message of Bush's was true? Or just a way to get close enough to Serenity and Endymion to attempt another assassination?" questioned Mercury worriedly.

"I have no idea, but I'll be getting some answers from _him_ soon enough," growled Kunzite, with a pointed look at the bound and gagged man who watched them fearfully.

"We have to get him to Crystal Tokyo and to the med room in the palace immediately," Zoisite reported with a harried voice. "He's losing a lot of blood." His statement said directly to Jupiter, who merely looked back at him with no emotion.

"Jupe-chan?" Serenity asked delicately, putting a hand on her arm. "Are you all right?"

"No, but I'll have to be."

"Uranus?"

"Yes, Venus?" responded the voice over the intercom.

With a glance back at the man bleeding in Endymion's arms, she said, "We're going to land in two hours. Get a stretcher ready and bring Saturn to the medical room."

"Stretcher? Saturn? What happened?"

"Tell you later. You might actually want to be present when Kunzite—" She shuddered as she remembered the look in her husband's eyes. He had truly frightened her for a moment, she who was not only a Senshi, but would never fear her significant other in her life.

"Just be ready."

"Affirmative."

There was quite a fuss since the King and Queen were to return, but they did not expect to see an ambulance and a stretcher come out, guided by two Senshi, Uranus and Neptune. It was near panic when the injured Shitennou was loaded into the ambulance, followed by a limo to the palace.

Saturn was calm as ever. When the stretcher, Mercury, Zoisite, Uranus, and Neptune surrounding it, entered the medical room she only set her glaive to the side and began her healing. Jupiter was suspiciously missing from the room.

"Where is she? Her husband is here and where is she?" demanded the tall Soldier, pacing outside the room.

Mercury and Zoisite exchanged glances, remembering what she had said on the jet. "I think she's staying away for a reason," temporized Mercury.

Neptune put a hand on her partner's arm. "Think about what you just said, Haruka. It's her husband in there. How would you feel if it was me in there? Wouldn't you want to be away in case…I died? She's afraid to know…"

The tall Senshi stopped pacing. "You're right. I think someone should go find her, though."

"I think Mars already is," Zoisite commented. "Those two are really close. Do you want to be there when they question him?"

"Question who?"

Mercury smacked a hand to her forehead. "I forgot; you don't know. There have been not one, but two assassination attempts on Serenity and Endymion. The first one was…vaporized by Venus' attacks, but Jupiter brought in the second with minimal damage. Kunzite is going to question him later."

Uranus' fist slammed into her other palm. "Love to be there."

Saturn left the room, closing the door behind her and locked eyes with them, her gloves off and wiping blood from her hands. "He'll be fine, for the time being. Let him rest and then, Mercury, you'll have to bring him in to surgery to take the bullet out. But I can't do that and I wouldn't attempt it now, not when he's in a rather weak state of shock."

The medical Senshi nodded.

"I'll go tell Jupiter that her husband is all right," Neptune whispered and slipped away.

"Jupiter, look at me."

She didn't move, simply stared out the window. Mars touched her arm, but she shrugged off her hand. The only one she wanted touching her was her husband and he may not make it. The bullet wasn't what worried her; that hadn't been a fatal shot, at least from what she could tell.

The blood loss she did worry about.

"Jupiter?"

Slowly she turned to the aqua Senshi. "Yes?"

A smile lifted the woman's lips. "He'll be fine."

She hadn't realized how tense and worried she'd been until she collapsed backward into Mars' arms. The Senshi of War stumbled a bit in surprise. "Mako-chan!"

"I'm so glad…" she murmured.

"Why would there be an assassination attempt, let alone two, when Crystal Tokyo hasn't been around for even a year?" pondered Neptune.

"I suppose they told you," Mars said flatly.

"Yes, Mercury told us. I think it's rather imperative to get some answers."

Kunzite wiped his hands on a cloth once the door was locked behind him. He faced his friends grimly. "All right, here's the bad news: he's working in a group. Apparently they heard about our monarchy and decided that it wasn't right. They feel democracy, dictatorship, everything that isn't a monarchy ruled by a king and queen is fine. But ours isn't. They feel that a monarchy had its time and died out thousands of years ago."

"It would figure we'd get a cult on us not a year after Crystal Tokyo's been up," Venus muttered.

"I did find out where they're located. The man was new to the group apparently, they haven't got a name, and they sent him on a suicide mission. With a little…persuasion I managed to find out that their base is somewhere in the Middle East, probably around Turkey."

"We'll get on it," confirmed Uranus, after a glance at the rest of the Outers.

"Saturn, Venus, can I talk to you?" Jupiter asked lowly.

Venus' confused look didn't lessen as the Jovian Senshi singled out the two unlikely Soldiers to pair together. "What is it, Jupiter?"

"Venus, you said you couldn't have children, right?"

Her leader's face set as stone. "Yes, what about it?"

"You just might be able to."

"What?"

Saturn bowed a bit, drawing the blonde's attention. "I might be able to heal you. A minor injury, probably when riding a bicycle, caused a bit of damage. It would be no problem for me to heal it."

"Really?" She looked as if she didn't dare believe it.

"Of a certainty. But not now, however. The matter of this group that is sending assassins after the King and Queen must take precedence."

Venus looked away into the distance for a moment. "Agreed, that does take precedence. Jupiter, did you tell anyone else about Saturn's thought?"

"Only Pluto, she was already there, and Nephrite because I had to tell _someone_ or explode keeping it in."

She smiled. "All right, but don't tell anyone else, especially not Keagan. Not until Saturn is sure that she can heal me."

Jupiter smiled like a gleeful pixie, which elicited smiles from the other two.

"Are you coming, Saturn?" called Uranus from down the hall.

"Yes."

The two Senshi watched her walk away.

End Chapter 4.

I know all you fans are going 'finally!" for getting another chapter of The Last Journey, so here it is. Interesting stuff is coming soon!! Couple plot twists…hehe.


	6. Chapter 05: Draconic Dreams

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@atlantic.net. 

I guess I should mention this, in case it gets confusing about how long it has been since the epilogue of Angelic Embrace. It's been six to seven months, not another year and a half.

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 5: Draconic Dreams_

"How ya feelin' Neph?" asked Jadeite as he sauntered in to the medical ward.

Nephrite levered himself to a sitting position. Not three hours ago, Mercury had taken the bullet out and already he felt his Shitennou persona healing the damage at, for a human, an alarming rate. "I suppose I'll live."

"You'd better or Jupiter will revive you just to kill you with her own hands."

He laughed, knowing full well how badly his wife would have reacted to his death. But when he remembered the reason why she was so fearful, it became hard to stay amused or happy. "I know. With her present life family dead, and what happened on the day the Silver Millennium fell, I don't blame her."

"True. Listen, we found out who the assassins were, to some extent."

When the rundown was completed, Nephrite clenched his hand into a fist. "I can't believe this! Why would anyone want to kill Endymion and Serenity? They're the best people in the world!"

"Nephrite, you know as well as I do that people don't like change. Is it any wonder that the world is overreacting?"

"I suppose not," he grudgingly admitted. "But I still don't like it."

"I don't like it either, but at least we can understand it, right? Unlike in the Silver Millennium," Jadeite added.

He struggled from the bed, Jadeite supporting him slightly. Trying to take a deep breath, however, resulted in a coughing fit so he settled for inhaling shallowly. Nephrite straightened and adjusted his shirt. "It's time I get back on duty."

"Speaking of duty," his friend told him as they walked through the halls, "the President of the United States is coming."

"_Here? As in, _Crystal Tokyo _here?"_

"In three days, he'll fly in and spend three weeks in the guest area of the palace. A week and a half will be with Endymion and Serenity in discussion, and the other week and a half will be touring our fair city."

"May the gods smile on us," the brunette muttered fervently.

"Well this is certainly impressive," Bush murmured, looking around at the halls.

Mercury rolled her eyes as she led the US president around. As she had explained repeatedly in her arguments to her companions, she was _not_ a tour guide. However, Endymion seemed convinced that to get the man who ruled the most powerful and influential country on their side, to see Crystal Tokyo in a favorable light, would make it so much easier to cajole the other leaders into that area of the board.

"Yes, the Crystal Palace is the largest structure of our city, twice as tall as your Twin Towers, and more solidly grounded."

The man winced and she suddenly remembered two years ago when a terrorist had taken them both out. She could have hit herself for being so dense.

"Where are your fellow…companions?"

"They are in the training room."

There was silence and she sighed inaudibly. "Would you like to see it?"

"Yes, I would most like to see it."

They rode up the lift, but long before they reached the floor, she could hear the cries of her fellow Senshi, practicing their combat and magic skills.

"Ah, Mercury," Venus panted, having dropped from her 'Star Children' final position. She immediately noticed the men behind her Senshi of Wisdom and the smallest of frowns touched her lips.

"They wished to see the training room." The blue-haired Senshi shrugged, giving the silent question, 'What else was I supposed to do?'

Mars and Jupiter made their final lunges, Jupiter pinning the red Soldier to the floor. A moment of gasping and the green Senshi helped up her comrade.

"How do you like our city so far, President Bush?" Venus questioned with cordiality.

The man smiled amiably. "I've only seen the palace so far, but if the rest of the city is like this, it will most positively _glitter _in the light."

Small smiles touched their faces, but Mercury noticed that all of them were a little forced. They did not like outsiders to their city any more than she did.

"They will be taken on a tour of the actual city tomorrow and the next week, as there is much more of the city to see than there is of the palace," Mercury stated in the ensuing silence.

"Ah," was the only reply from Venus.

Somehow, Mercury wasn't sure how, she got her entourage turned around and onto the lift with the politest of words and ease. She supposed that it must be from all the practice she'd had when dealing with irate parents or people at the hospital when loved ones were injured and wanted reassurance.

"Unfortunately, you will not be meeting the Outers during your stay," she lectured as she led them down _another hallway."_

"The…Outers?" Bush faltered.

"Yes. There is a difference between the Senshi. There are the Inners, of which you have seen, which guard the King and Queen. Then there are the Outers, who guard the city itself and are rarely seen at the palace. They have been dispatched on a special mission."

"Let me guess," said one of his aides, "it has something to do with that assassination attempt?"

"Yes," she replied reluctantly. "We plan to route them out and prevent any other attempts."

"And who are the men, then? Are they…Senshi too? And what does Senshi mean?"

She glanced behind her and at the president. "The men are the Shitennou. Roughly, it translates to 'Four Heavenly Kings' in English. They are…the main protectors of King Endymion. 'Senshi' means 'Soldier'. It may be used as plural or singular. So, in essence, one could translate 'Sailor Senshi' as 'Sailor Soldiers' or 'Sailor Soldier'."

And that was how it went for the afternoon: peppered with questions and Mercury answering. By the time they retired to their rooms for the day, the Wisdom Senshi had a migraine from talking and listening to English constantly. It was no wonder that Mars and Jupiter had said nothing. Jupiter had only the barest smattering of the language, from the few times she had been in America on her street tournament rounds, and Mars knew none, as far as Mercury knew. Mercury and Venus were quite fluent, as she had studied it in school and Venus had lived in England for a great many years. 

But Mercury also found no need to mention the magical translators hidden among the palace and the ones that Serenity and Endymion wore when they had left the country, none of which (to her displeasure) were currently working. She would have to be sure to let Zale to fix it. While she was good with programs, she was not so good with the actual fixing of the hardware. It was partly the reason they worked together so well.

"How's the baby, Mercury?"

She turned at Jadeite's offhand question as he approached, obviously headed in the same direction as her.

"I'm sure it's fine. I'm barely a month pregnant; there won't be much movement—"

"Spare me the lecture, Ami-chan. The only reason I asked was because Rei could always feel the baby even when she was a week old. Something to do with her psychic powers."

He seemed unusually snappy and she took a long look at him. His hair tousled, as if he had run his hands through it a million times, and he looked harried.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm on my way to see Venus right now. The Outers called in, through the special channel. They figure they're going to need more fire-power, if you get my meaning, than they thought. Apparently there is a whole lot more than anyone could have figured."

"How much more?" she asked in apprehension.

He sighed with hesitation. "They said around a thousand."

"_A thousand?"_

"Yes. I have to tell Venus. The Inners are going to be needed and we'll have to protect Serenity and Endymion."

Mercury watched him walk toward the lift with jerky steps. She knew he felt guilty and worried about the fact that the Inner Senshi would be going. Not only did he know Zale would be upset that his pregnant wife would be going out there, but his wife as well, leaving him with his son and no way of knowing if she would make it back alive and in one piece.

But she paused in her walking as it occurred to her. It was in some other country; it would be a violation unless they contacted that government. What would they do? What would Venus say?

It was all speculation and she hated speculation.

End Chapter 5.

I think this is noteworthy. In Chapter 6, we will have some action, but the amount of action will be the amount of fighting done in the story. There will be more fighting, but much later in the story, around when we hit 60% to 70% finished. Then there will be _a lot of fighting. Up until then, this will be most likely political battles and such. If you love fighting scenes and such, and if you can bear with this story until then, then you will have a battle worth waiting for. Something is going to happen, and I wonder if any of you can guess what?_


	7. Chapter 06: Basic Instinct

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

I guess I should mention this, in case it gets confusing about how long it has been since the epilogue of Angelic Embrace. It's been six to seven months, not another year and a half.

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 6: Basic Instinct_

The light of the teleportation faded and she blinked to clear her sight. They were in an alley, that was for sure, and the prominent color was beige or possibly light brown. Sand was everywhere and even as she just stood there, it floated on the air and tried to clog her lungs instead of oxygen.

Mars coughed a bit. "No wonder they chose this place to settle their base. If the rest of the country is like this, we'd never find them. And I heard that sandstorms are very popular here."

"You make it sound as if sandstorms have intelligence and choose to come here on purpose," Jupiter replied in turn, scanning around them.

"Well I'm very sorry," snapped the Soldier of War.

"Stop it, you two. We have to let the government here know what exactly we're doing here," Venus interrupted.

"What'll we do if they deny us permission?" questioned Mercury worriedly.

Jupiter watched her leader as the woman simply looked at the Senshi of Wisdom with that steel glint amongst her beautiful blue eyes. She knew exactly what that meant; they'd go after the assassins anyway and the government permission be damned.

"I see," Mercury whispered in the silence.

It took a total of two hours to get inside the building that housed the new leader of Iraq. As ordered, Jupiter kept up communications with Uranus.

"Finally!" Mars muttered under her breath as they were admitted in.

"Welcome…"

"Sailor Senshi," Venus supplied in the expectant silence. "And we don't have to time to bandy words _or introductions. We have come on a grave mission. You were there at the World Leader's Convention, right?"_

"Yes."

"And you remember the assassination attempt on Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion?"

"Yes. I also heard vaguely of another one?" The man's eyebrows rose in query.

"Yes, there was another. After some…interrogation of the would-be murderer, we found out that their headquarters is in your country. We would like your…agreement in allowing us to…deal with this den of assassins."

The man sighed in contemplation and leaned back in his chair. "As much as I would like to oblige you, Sailor…?"

"Venus."

"As much as I would like to oblige you, Sailor Venus, I simply cannot allow you to…deal with these assassins. The people would be in an uproar at finding out that a new world power for only a year came into our country to kill our citizens when it has not been proven that they have done anything. Unless, of course, you have a recording of the conversation…?"

Venus looked at them. They did have a tape, of course, but the methods in which the information had been…extracted would not be allowed. At the very least, they would have human rights activists all over them. Not a promising start for Crystal Tokyo. Kunzite had been worried to death about his friend and enraged over the repeated assassinations of his King and Queen, so it was not hard to empathize with his…lack of temper control. Admittedly, the man was not harmed and all he had received were a few light bruises, but the fact that he had been touched in violence was enough to inflame those human rights activists that were just waiting for some negative information to pounce on Crystal Tokyo.

After a moment of silence, in which Jupiter was sure that the man had guessed the reason for their hesitation, he said, "We can, of course, begin an official investigation."

"You do that," Venus murmured in a distracted tone that Jupiter knew meant she was thinking of battle strategies.

"I'm very sorry, Sailor Senshi, but I just cannot condone your actions for something close to invasion to kill its citizens, even _if_ they _are assassins."_

"If I had actually expected him to agree, I would say that I'm disappointed," commented Mars.

"Jupiter, where are Uranus and the others?" questioned Venus abruptly in Japanese, amidst the gawking of the local citizens at their strange and flamboyant garb.

"About ten miles south of here."

"Let's go then."

"Venus, do you really think that's a good idea?" Mercury asked.

"What would you have us do, then, Mercury? Let the attacks continue? That could result in not only perhaps Serenity or Endymion's death, but one of us? In Zoisite's death? Can you deal with that? Because I can't."

The blue Senshi remained silent for a long time and then nodded.

Holding hands tightly, they chanted and teleported away, leaving gaping mouths behind and a wonder as to where they went.

"Anything been happening?"

Uranus looked at Venus as she abruptly appeared, not at all flustered by the suddenness of it. "Not a single thing has changed from the norm. What did the president say?"

She shook her head.

"And your orders?"

Her unwavering stare into those green eyes gave enough answer. After a moment, she addressed them at large. "Everyone spread out. I want to surround this building on all sides. There is no doubt that there will be some who will survive, like the rats fanatic assassins are, but I want the majority of them gone. We must protect Serenity and Endymion at all costs."

She really didn't have to add the last sentence, as they all knew that, but Jupiter thought that perhaps it was the only way she could possibly reconcile what she was about to do. The Jovian Senshi couldn't imagine being the leader, having to make that decision. It was very hard to carry out the orders, and the first reaction would be to balk at something this ruthless, but to actually _make_ the decision…It must be tearing her apart.

"Do we really have to?" whispered Saturn forlornly.

Despite the fact that she was the Soldier of Death and Rebirth, she hated having to create it. Perhaps it was her connection with death as a Soldier that made her respect life more than anyone else that Jupiter had ever met before.

"Yes. We must protect Serenity and Endymion at all costs," repeated Venus lowly. "I guess…deep in my heart, when Crystal Tokyo was born, it was so like the Silver Millennium that I didn't believe it would ever come to this. But…" If Jupiter looked hard enough, she could swear there was the slightest glimmer of film over her leader's eyes. As if she was trying as hard as she could to control her emotions and not cry. "But…this isn't the Silver Millennium. This is a new world, a new start. I know it isn't a good way to start it, massacring thousands of people, but what choice do we have? If we don't do this, later down the rode it could result in our deaths, or even Serenity or Endymion's."

Her heart heavy, as she knew her friends' were, Jupiter took her place near the east of the building. She could make out, barely, on her right, Mars. The plants around shook a little, as if she was crying and her shoulders were moving the leaves and branches. To her left, barely visible and seemingly utterly calm, Saturn waited with her Glaive in hand.

And as suddenly as it had been sunny, clouds filled the sky and rain began to pour down on her, soaking her to the skin. But it had no effect on the hate for herself. What if there were children in that building? What…How could she do this? A stiff wind played around her hair and rain pelted down on her shoulders and body.

She saw Mars raise her arms in preparation for her 'Final Burst' attack, the most powerful fire spell of hers.

Saturn twirled her Glaive a bit, and she saw, as though she had binoculars, her mouth the words, "Death Dimension." The thunder in the sky drowned out any other sound in the world.

They would never know what hit them. The Senshi could spare them any pain with one massive strike, at least, though it was little consolation.

"Thunder God!"

The antenna in her tiara extended, the metal and magic making and actually attracting natural lightning as well. With a sob, tears pouring down her face, she thrust her lightning covered fist toward the sky. That lightning, both magical and infinitely natural, struck her clenched hand. Her body encased in that bright lightning and she was lifted four feet above the ground. With another sob, she jerked from that fetal position in mid-air and thrust her palm toward that building down below her, in the depression the land had naturally worn into the earth.

Her lightning struck it as her comrades' attacks collided with the masonry of the building. In that pitch-black sky, no light could come through at all, but the explosion below them was enough to brighten the dismal surroundings. It was almost dreamlike, or perhaps nightmarish, at the brilliant colors intertwining with no regard for the thousands of lives they had just destroyed. The green of the grass became nearly transparent and neon in color as it was pounded on by the rain.

The power faded and with it, the light. It was still pitch-dark around Jupiter and she couldn't bring herself to move as the reality of what she had just done hit her harder than before. _I can't believe I just murdered thousands of people! How could I have done something like this? Is this what the duty of a Sailor Soldier really is?! It can't be! The duty of a Sailor Soldier can't be a murderer!_

"Come on, Jupiter."

Mars took her arm and led her to where the other Senshi were waiting.

"That was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," Uranus murmured, her face wet to the brim. But Jupiter could see the red around her eyes and knew that the rain was not all to blame for the soaked skin.

She noticed that not a single eye escaped a distinct and deep redness associated with extreme grief. Even Pluto, who had seen and probably done just about everything, looked depressed and ragged.

"Let's get back to Crystal Tokyo," suggested Mercury quietly, her voice so scratchy that she didn't even sound like a woman.

Jupiter could only nod and say nothing. With a backward, painful glance, she locked hands with her friends and their brilliant colors shattered the shadows around them for a few blessed moments before leaving nothing but darkness.

A strong streak of lightning snapped into a tree, leaving the wood black and hanging off, festering in pain.

End Chapter 6.

This is a very dark chapter, I know. But I was trying to convey that the Senshi have done things they are not proud about but will do. It was necessity, something that had to be done, but they will hate themselves for and will take a long time to get over. Everyone won't accept Crystal Tokyo, especially not at first.


	8. Chapter 07: Your Love, Forever

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

I guess I should mention this, in case it gets confusing about how long it has been since the epilogue of Angelic Embrace. It's been six to seven months, not another year and a half.

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 7: Your Love, Forever_

Nick met up with Rei outside her temple. "You want to talk about it?" he murmured quietly as she reached him.

Her gaze was quiet for a time, heavy-laden with sorrow and weight. He couldn't imagine how Minako was taking this, as it was she that had made the decision to end those lives that night a week ago.

"I've been avoiding you, haven't I?"

"Yes, but I haven't exactly pressed the matter. Mako-chan's pretty much taken up most of my time."

"How is she?"

The Shitennou sighed. "Not good initially, but slowly I think she can recover. Some days are better than others, that's for sure. That's all we can ask for at the moment, isn't it?"

She smiled, a bit sadly, and he knew she was remembering when they had many similar conversations like this back in the Silver Millennium. They had been as close as two non-relatives could be, the psychic Princess of Mars and the stars-reader Shitennou of the North American division. Their talents for the reading of possible futures and events, and simply the extra sense, that sixth sense they both had, had formed a deep bond. As such, Nick felt for Rei an intense, almost brotherly feeling for her.

And that was renewed in this new time, this new utopia of Crystal Tokyo. And Nick enjoyed every moment of it.

"I've been talking to Jadeite about it a lot, and between him and Pyralis, I'm working through it quickly."

"I suppose that it helps that whenever you begin to cry, Pyro begs his mommy to stop."

His teasing and gentle smile lifted her mood a bit. "He's just so adorable when he pouts and tries to beg with the few sounds he's picked up."

They meandered back to the palace slowly, conversation comfortable between them.

"Serenity thinks she may be pregnant again," Rei told him at one point.

"Really? I guess that's how it is in their bedroom. They must want more children," he said laughingly. "Children really are wonderful and Chibiusa is a dream."

"Not the way I hear it sometimes, she isn't," Rei contradicted with a huge smile on her face.

They laughed their way into the palace doors, which elicited a few confused grins. The Senshi had been rooted into a depression for the past week since they had returned to Crystal Tokyo and it was a relief to see even one smiling.

"Everybody seems to be getting pregnant lately."

"Not me."

Rei swatted him lightly on the arm at his quip. "Is Mako-chan pregnant?"

"As far as I know…no."

"Nothing going on in the bedroom?"

Nick drew himself up in mock indignation. "Everything is _fine_ in the bedroom. In fact, things get pretty downright heated at night."

As soon as she smiled, he knew he had walked into a trap. "So _that's _why Mako-chan comes into training all sore _before _we even do any work!"

A slight stain of crimson on his cheeks. He didn't much like talking about that personal an issue between him and his wife.

"Ah, shut up."

"Have you had any contact with the Outer Senshi?"

He shook his head. "No, but I think they have enough talk amongst themselves to work through this. You know they don't like talking about their feelings with us."

"True."

The Shitennou watched her walk away to her own rooms, knowing her to at least have gotten past some of it for her to laugh again. It would be a long hard road to travel, but he thought that they would get to the end with help.

"Did you hear the international news?"

"They're saying some thousand people in Iraq were killed last night. The government is saying that a bomb was planted under the building and it went off."

Venus paused and listened closely to the two young men ahead of her. Her suspicions were aroused as she listened. It seemed the Iraq government was covering up for them. But why? It made her nervous, not knowing why. She made her way quickly back to the palace in favor of answers than continuing her probably fruitless patrol while she was in city limits.

When she entered the throne room, it was as crowded as usual. Serenity and Endymion were quite busy, surrounded by the Shitennou, who looked as calm as ever. She bit her lip in vexation. No matter how much she wanted to rush up and demand answers, it would look bad in front of the court and various officials. She would have to wait for a lull in the proceedings.

Fortunately Endymion noticed her shifting at the back of the room and nodded his head slightly, his crown set firmly on his brow. It had been a gift to him from the four Shitennou, something they'd kept in a special place for him when the time was ready. 

The gold of it gleamed and there were four stones all around the circlet, stones she knew were kunzite, zoisite, nephrite, and jadeite. The stones representing his four guardians. Short spikes flowed up all around his head, sparkling in the sunlight. In the exact center of the crown, right over his forehead, was a rose, the bud made of miniscule rubies. Underneath it was a sword with a topaz floating over the blade, a representation of the Golden Crystal. The black of his tuxedo was edged in gold, the inside of the cape ruby red. 

Due to Endymion's efforts, there was a lull within ten minutes and she approached, leaning over Serenity's shoulder to whisper to the two monarchs. She most definitely did not want anyone to overhear.

"Did you know that the Iraq covered for us last week?" she hissed severely, worry making her brow furrow. "You didn't promise them allegiance in exchange for that, did you?"

Endymion shook his head. "We were privately informed about two days ago that the Iraq government would not press charges against Crystal Tokyo and claim that another terrorist group set a bomb."

"But did you promise—"

"No," Serenity whispered back. "We didn't promise anything. We didn't contact them at all."

"Then why did they do this?"

"I don't know."

"There has to be something in this for them to do this," she returned speculatively. "I wonder what it is."

"It worries me," Kunzite murmured from Endymion's right side. "There is no reason I can think of that they would do this for us."

"Perhaps another country, a powerful one…one that wants Crystal Tokyo into the World Alliance…put the pressure on them," suggested Zoisite grimly.

"That would be news to me," Jadeite responded sourly. "I didn't see many enthusiastic people about us in that World Alliance."

"There's something strange going on behind the scenes and its manipulating policy," stating Nephrite unhappily. "Sure, you read about this kind of stuff happening, but it doesn't really bother you until it's _your _country that's being manipulated."

"Tell me about it," Venus muttered angrily.

"Venus, we need to get back to the proceedings," Serenity prodded with a glance at the people who were standing a discreet distance away and watching them.

She looked over her shoulder and nodded to her monarchs.

As soon as she closed the door behind her, she made her way as fast as possible to Mars' side. She had to know.

"Venus?" The Senshi of War looked up, surprised. "What's the matter?"

The leader ran down what she had heard. "I want you to do a fire-reading. I…need to know what this is all about."

"What about Mercury and Pluto?"

She nodded. "I know. I'm going to them next."

Her second-in-command left and settled herself in front of the burning blaze in a room down the hall.

Mercury was unhappy with the idea of hacking into to a few computer systems, but she did as Venus _asked. She did not want to order this; she knew what she had ordered last week and she didn't think she had an empty quota for orders yet._

A few simple taps and she had Pluto on the communicator.

"Pluto, do you still have ties with the Time Gate?"

"Why? I won't look into the future."

"No, I don't want to know the future. I want to know the past."

"The past?" The Senshi of Time's voice filled with puzzlement. "Why the past?"

"I need to know what made the Iraq government cover for us last week."

"…I will see what I can do. I am not sure if I can see anything of the Timeline anymore, now that I am officially released from guarding it, but…I will try."

"Thanks, Pluto. It really takes a lot off my mind."

"And, Venus?"

"Yes?"

"Did Saturn heal you before we left?"

"…Yes. I don't know if it did anything at all, but…if it did…change…something about me, I will be sure to thank her again."

"I'm sure it will work out." 

The compassion in her older friend's voice made tears spring to her eyes. Sometimes she wondered whether she had any friendship at all with the Outers, as they were distant a lot of the time. It was nice to have this reassurance at this crucial time in their lives and their country.

"Thanks…Pluto."

"Your welcome. Pluto out."

"Venus out," she whispered to the crackle of speakers and slowly let her fingers fall of the switch.

End Chapter 7

Thanks for being so patient with this chapter!


	9. Chapter 08: Angel Eyes

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 8: Angel Eyes_

"WHAT did you say?"

Pluto shifted slightly. "I said I can't see it. The connections I had to the Time Gate are extremely limited now. The only thing that I can see of the past is a shady figure talking to the man in Iraq, the one you talked to before."

"But it confirms that someone is behind this," Venus growled, tapping her fingers on the table top.

All around her were her friends and companions, the defenders of Crystal Tokyo. She had even pulled the Outers back into the city for this conference. Her concern was great, and it was enough that it got those four back with a minimum of fuss.

"I don't suppose we know who wants Crystal Tokyo in this World Alliance?" Uranus murmured dejectedly.

"Not one," responded Zoisite with equal depression. "Nobody liked the idea of a monarchy again, and many were vocal about how monarchies had outlived their time long ago. I can't think of any that would vouch for us, or want us in so badly to put pressure on Iraq's government."

"What about that president from the US?" jumped in Jupiter, leaning forward in her seat. "The man is the head of the leading world power right now. He could do put enough pressure on a country to force them to do what he wanted."

"But why would he do that?" questioned Jadeite. "What could he gain by getting us in the World Alliance?"

"What do you mean, 'what could he gain?'" prompted Mars. "Why does he have to gain anything?"

It was Pluto who answered. "Over the course of history," she began, "there is one major thing about human kind that is quite noticeable. Every action that a person does has to have something for them in it. Human kind is naturally out for themselves. There must be something that the US president will gain by having us in the World Alliance. If it's him."

"I can't think of anyone else that would do this," Mercury muttered. 

"Maybe it's not any leader of any government," commented Neptune. As they stared at her, she shrugged and explained. "Okay, Pluto said that the future she wanted didn't come about when we met her and that this possibility was so remote she didn't even take in its likelihood. So who's to say that some of the enemies that we would have fought in that other timeline won't show up here?"

"But why would our _enemies want something good for us?" interjected Jupiter again._

"It could be part of a plan," Nephrite said, rubbing the back of his hand, as if it hurt him. "Perhaps this enemy knew that we would ask Pluto to look into the timeline. Maybe they hoped that she would see someone with the Iraq government official. Maybe they hope we will be concentrating so hard on finding who it was among the various country heads that we won't know they're here until it's too late. Maybe they want us so suspicious of our neighboring countries that when they do come, we will be outnumbered but won't ask for aid from another."

"That's rather cynical, Nephrite," Mars commented.

"But plausible nonetheless." Kunzite leaned forward, catching their attention. "He and Neptune just may be right. And if that's the case, then I think we should be prepared. I don't suppose your connections with the Timeline will permit you to see at least somewhat into the future, Pluto?"

She sighed in contemplation. "I doubt it, but I will check again."

"Thank you. Now, when you leave Uranus-tachi, I want you to keep an eye out not only on our perimeters, but if you hear _anything_ going on about anything strange, report to us immediately. I will not let us get caught with our pants down, if you will."

Uranus rolled her eyes at the last sentence, but nodded nonetheless. Throughout all this, Saturn didn't say a word.

"I hope that this won't start an intergalactic war," Mercury told her husband as they entered the Palace.

"Intergalactic? I doubt it. War? There's hardly a doubt in my mind," he replied grimly.

"Do you suppose, from what Pluto has said, that this future is filled with less fighting?"

Zoisite locked his hands behind his head as he walked and shrugged. "I don't know. But I did talk with Pluto about the other timeline somewhat. I'm just as glad for the Shitennou's sake that we're in this one."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

He looked down sadly. "Because in the other one, Beryl survived the war against the Dark Kingdom and the Shitennou were turned against Endymion."

"Oh."

They walked in silence for a few minutes until Mercury broke it.

"Zoisite, do you want the child to be a girl or a boy?"

He stumbled and his arm reached out to steady himself on the wall. His face was red as he looked at her. "What?"

"Do you want the child to be a boy or a girl?"

"I…I…how about you?"

Her face took on a slightly dreamy quality. "I want a girl. And don't change the subject, Zoisite. Do you want a girl or a boy?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm kinda hoping for a boy."

"You would."

She smiled at him anyway, though, and kissed his cheek before heading further down the hall. Zoisite just shook his head in wonder at the sudden question.

The child giggled and held out his hands for his mother.

Rei knelt down next to her son. "What is it, Pyralis?"

He simply laughed in his baby voice and grabbed her hair. She winced as it tugged the roots. Carefully, she worked the strands from his grip. "Don't grab Mommy's hair." Her son was so exuberant about being in the Shrine with her that he was getting overzealous. She thought perhaps in the future she would leave him with his father.

"Lady Mars?"

Rei turned from her kneeling position and looked behind her. A young girl, one of the new acolytes that took care of the temple, stood in the doorway. "There's someone here to see you."

Her eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. Perhaps it was a priest of the order, wanting to talk about the care-taking of the Shrine? "I'll be out in a minute."

The acolyte nodded and left.

She picked up Pyralis, who continued to smile. Out of courtesy for the woman, the young girl had left the door open since she had obviously known that Rei would have her hands full. A smile grew on her lips. She really had grown attached to the acolytes working at the temple. They were all very nice.

"Let's go see who's here to visit Mommy," she whispered in her son's ear, holding him tight.

But when she left the room and saw who was waiting for her, she nearly dropped the baby. Her child immediately knew the change in attitude in his mother and he grew still and quiet. He turned around slowly and smiled hesitantly.

"Yuuichirou?"

End Chapter 8


	10. Chapter 09: Painful Reminders

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 9: Painful Reminders_

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Pyralis tucked his head into the crook of her neck, his bright sky blue eyes nearly hidden by his dark black hair.

"Yuuichirou? What are you doing here? Where did you go…when you left?"

Her voice cracked slightly, but she resolutely kept her eyes on him. The man shifted and looked around him, anywhere but at her.

"I went to America. I've had a few relatives locate themselves in Chicago and I found a place to stay there. I…only heard now about who the…the Sailor Senshi were..." She winced, but he continued in a soft voice. "Then it all clicked in my head." He gave a deprecating smile. "I remembered seeing that red warrior, Sailor Mars, with that male fighter…and…"

"Yuuichirou," she began when he didn't finish, "nothing that I did when the Sailor Senshi showed up was meant to hurt you. This is just how…destiny played out. I wish it hadn't worked out like this, that you were hurt so and that I did the hurting of you, but when I…awoke as a Soldier, my duty and my mind was set on what had to be done. I had to rescue Serenity at all costs."

"And this Jadeite?"

Rei's hold on her son tightened. "I told you when you left…that I love him. And I always will. I'm…sorry, Yuuichirou, but that's the way it is."

Yuuichirou's gaze fell on Pyralis. "Is he…our son?"

From the tightness around his eyes and mouth, the desperateness in his whole appearance, Rei could see that he wanted for the child to be his with all his heart. Perhaps it was his only way of holding onto the woman he loved…Rei didn't know, but suddenly she just couldn't look at him. Mutely she shook her head.

"I see."

His ragged voice made her look up. "Yuuichirou, why did you come here?"

"I don't know…I don't know, Rei. I guess…when I found out that you were Sailor Mars, there was something in me that had to know."

"Know what?"

"Did you ever really love me?"

She set Pyralis down and straightened her shoulders, piercing his gaze with her own. "Yes. I did once."

"Then that's all I want to know. I guess…I can let go of us."

"Yuuichirou, I still care for you…just not the way it once was. Perhaps we can't be friends like in all the movies and books, but there is still an emotion in my heart for you."

"Rei?"

She caught sight of Nick just over Yuuichirou's shoulder. "Nick?"

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"No. Yuuichirou, this is Nick Michael Canter, Mako-chan's husband. Nick, this is Yuuichirou Kumada."

Nick held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Yuuichirou."

Guardedly, Yuuichirou returned the sentiment. "So…you're Nephrite, right?"

He nodded. "You must be paying attention and have inside sources. Not many people outside our country know who we really are and we rather like it that way."

"I understand." He glanced again, down at Pyralis, who was occupying himself quite well with a loose piece of threading from a curtain. "It's been a…pleasure meeting you, Nick, and Rei…" His eyes finally met hers for the last time. "…I wish you well."

Nick watched him go and when he was gone, turned to Rei. "Venus wants a meeting again. I didn't know he would be here; why did he come?"

"He said he had to ask whether I ever loved him."

"You say it as if you don't believe that was the only reason."

Rei looked away. "It's not as if I don't believe that was the reason, but…I don't know, but…I'm suddenly afraid."

"Of what?"

"That perhaps he might get hurt or someone I know will. It almost sounded, when he asked me if I ever loved him, the way someone would ask something just before they died. Almost as if it was the last thing he wanted to know before he passed away. Do you think that I'm just being paranoid?"

Nick shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know him very well and all I'm going on is what you've told me. Come, let's get to Venus' meeting."

She nodded. _Yes, let's go. But I hope my bad feeling doesn't come to anything. Nothing could happen to Yuuichirou, could it? _Rei picked up her son and got into Nick's car, ignoring the niggling at the back of her mind.

"We were gratefully notified," And Endymion put heavy sarcasm on the two words, "that the World Council has voted on its position regarding us."

"Really? And what is that?" questioned Haruka derisively and propping up her feet on the table.

"Yes. After 'heavy debating', they have decided to recognize our form of government. Senshi, Shitennou, we are, in their opinion, a country on their World Council."

"WHAT?"

Endymion looked rather pleased at the twelve shouting voices. "That's what we said."

"But…but…but how can that be?" stuttered Zale. "They acted like we were a plague in that room when we were at that stupid council!"

"Are you sure this isn't some sort of joke?" questioned Luna skeptically as she entered the room with Artemis and Serenity. Both felines jumped onto the table top for a better view of the people sitting there.

"Joke? I doubt it," Setsuna muttered. "I don't think it's a joke, but after so many years that I've lived and looked over the timeline, it isn't just in the goodness of someone's heart to be on our side. Something else is behind this; something I don't know about. And I don't like not knowing."

"I bet you don't," murmured Jadeite.

"I don't like not knowing either," Minako stated. "It makes me quite irritable and jumpy not knowing. Is there any way we can find out?"

"Well…"

Setsuna trailed off.

"This is turning straight back into a Silver Millennium thing," Michiru remarked tiredly. "All those wandering in different circles, bandying words and trying to find out who did what in the government so they might counter it. It was always tiresome then, and it's tiresome now."

"I somehow didn't think that establishing Crystal Tokyo would be this way," Nick said sadly. "I thought it would be free of intrigue, and that the recognition of our government wouldn't be built on lies and deception."

"You couldn't expect that," Hotaru told him softly. "We had no right to expect that. What country isn't built in a council on that? While our government is built in and of itself on free will and…purity and innocence for a better world, in the political circles, one must lie, cheat, and betray others in order to go further ahead for the better interests. That is what someone is doing now: they are trying to go further ahead for the better interests, and those interests lie in having Crystal Tokyo recognized for a legitimate government to be on that very much said same World Council."

"Well, Hotaru, you may not talk a lot, but when you do, gold comes out of your mouth," Jace commented. She simply looked at him and he shrugged. "Any ideas on who that would be?"

The Soldier of Destruction shook her head. "Why should I know? It was the King and Queen's guard that went with them to the World Council. Surely you all, of any of us, would know better."

That gentle rebuff only accentuated her words, but kept most of the sting out of them. Her pale violet eyes were haunted, but yet at the same time calm. It was almost as if, through some way, she were teaching them. But she was the same age as them, even if she had grown up a little harshly, caught in the middle of a war between the recently deceased Death Busters and the Sailor Senshi.

"She's right," Keagan told them gravely. "We would know of any of us."

"A background check is first," Ami said reluctantly. "We'll need to inspect as much as we can about the various heads of states and their future aims for their countries."

"Can you do that? Isn't security on that kind of thing really tough to crack?" Serenity asked worriedly.

"It will be hard, and Zale and I will be doing that for the majority of our time as it will be long, but it can be done with the technology that we built Crystal Tokyo from. Our own Silver Millennium technology can do just about anything. After all, that was what we made them for."

"Right," Minako told them. "All right, Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, Hotaru, I need you to continue your outer perimeter guard as much as humanly possible. I also want a close watch on who is coming in and going out in our country. If someone is coming in, I want to know about it, people, and who that person is and where they're coming from."

The four older Senshi nodded gravely.

"Exactly," Keagan picked up. "In the palace, Zale and Ami will do what they can with their computers, find out the information we need. Rei, you need to keep a watch on your senses and an eye on your sacred fire. If there is _any_, and I mean _any_, strange feelings you have, I want them checked up on. That goes for you too, Nick. Any and all feelings and keep a weather eye on the stars. If you think anything out of the ordinary or importance, bring it to our collective attention immediately. Jace, I need you to watch the outside political world as much as possible. I wouldn't be asking you to do this, but Minako and I need to watch our guard. I don't want the possibility that someone can infiltrate their way close to Serenity and Endymion with the intent of harm on them." Jace nodded, his face serious as stone. "Makoto, do you think you contact your acquaintances in the street fighting community, see if they know anything?"

The brunette cocked her head. "I don't really know. I didn't know anyone when I was street fighting. The unwritten rule is that you don't really get to know another street fighter because you'll probably end up fighting them."

"But could you try?"

"I'll see what I can do," she responded, "but don't expect much."

"It's a long shot, but it's worth something, same as when we asked Setsuna to look at the timeline."

"Serenity, Endymion, you need to concentrate as much as you can on maintaining a calm front and keep control of the kingdom, while all the time also trying to keep in the center of the political arena. Jace can only see so far on the fringes." Minako drilled her words into their minds with her eyes. "I won't lose you. Either of you. After all that we've gone through, I can't go through it again. We need you to be strong for our people and for the press."

Endymion and Serenity glanced at each other and concurred.

"Luna, Artemis."

The cats looked in surprise at Setsuna's sudden outburst. "Keep an eye on everything going on the palace as well. There are bound to something that we missed. Also, watch the staff hard. Even in Crystal Tokyo, there might be rebellious people, or betrayers in our midst. Your eyes are the keenest of us all, your ears the sharpest. You both may pick up things that we very well can't. Also, always listen in if we find something. You might be able to read a pattern that we can't see."

"Very good," Artemis stated as they broke up the meeting. "I think we might actually pull this off.

End Chapter 9.

Not much Luna and Artemis action until now. Had to bring them in though. They play a big part in the upcoming…situation.

**Update: Thanks to Kourui for pointing out to me that I had forgotten Mako-chan! I guess my mind wandered when I was trying to remember something else. Sorry! Thanks Kourui!


	11. Chapter 10: A Tribute to Honor

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 10: A Tribute to Honor_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now tell me what you know."

Makoto kept the man under her pinned securely. She didn't know how much time she'd spent away from her city, Crystal Tokyo, and wandering through her street fighting channels to find anything out. At first, she hadn't thought the emergence of a new country would have affected the fighting community, but apparently she had been wrong. And this man may be the only one to know something.

"Look, I don't know much. I just heard that about the time that the terrorists attacked that building in Iraq, there's been heat aplenty in the government world. I _heard_ that the US government put the pressure on Iraq to cover it up."

"Why?" she snapped, keeping her hand on his neck to make sure her threat of injury was kept in mind.

"All I know was that someone saw this man with white, longish hair leaving from a corner of the council room."

"But there wasn't any man with white longish hair in the council when Crystal Tokyo was being represented!" Makoto protested.

"No, this was after that, when Crystal Tokyo was decided to be recognized on the council," he corrected. "He was dressed all in white."

"And why did he draw attention?"

"He had _white_ hair!"

She rolled her eyes. "Please."

"All right, all right! Because whenever he looked at the US president, the man looked afraid."

"_Where _do you get this information?" she demanded. "I doubt this is public knowledge, and if everyone saw that the US president was afraid of a single man, there'd be chaos and it would make the news."

"My cousin is a reporter and he noticed it. Apparently no one else did."

"Uh huh." Makoto stood and let him up. "Thanks for the info."

"You're welcome," he replied sullenly and stalked away.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Seriously?"

"That gets me worried," Makoto responded to Nephrite's surprised statement over the cellphone. "If a single man can scare the US president into doing what he wants, it bodes badly for the political climate. Warn Serenity and Endymion when they meet with anyone and keep your eye out. Have Rei do a fire reading on him. For some strange reason, I have a bad foreboding in the middle of my stomach."

"Are you sure that couldn't be a child forming?"

She smiled slightly at his teasing when she had used a pregnancy test, but hadn't had the time to see the results.

"I doubt it, but…it's a possibility."

"If you _are _pregnant, be careful out there."

The warrior took his worried statement in stride. "Don't worry, I will. There's no way that anything can really hurt me. I'm a Senshi remember?"

"Stop that! Do you want to jinx yourself?"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Serenity sat back in her chair in boredom. "Endymion?"

He looked at her when she whispered to him. "What?"

"I'm _bored_. What is the point of this?"

"You know very well why. We have to know what's going on."

"Are you sure that it isn't what it looks like?"

"Tell me in your gut you don't feel worried."

She paused. "I can't."

"See?"

"I'm worried about Chibiusa. She hardly sees us anymore, or any of the Senshi. She needs a playmate."

"She's got Pyralis." But she could tell from her husband's face that he knew how she felt. How could Chibiusa play all the games that _she_ had played when she was younger when the child was only a baby?

"I hope this is over soon. I miss just being a family, and just being a King."

"I know."

Nephrite put his hand on Endymion's shoulder. "This will be over soon. The Senshi and us will put an end to this and you'll be able to be with Chibiusa for as long as you like without having to worry."

"I hope you're right, Nephrite," Endymion told him quietly.

She slid her hand into her soulmate's. She believed it would be over soon. She believed.

~~~~~~~~~

"What did you say this man looked like again?" Setsuna asked worriedly.

"The man said he had white hair and dressed all in white. That's all he told me," Makoto related.

"If this is who I think it is, we're in trouble. Call everyone, even Serenity and Endymion. We _have _to talk."

When everyone was assembled, Setsuna sat and gravely told them, "If I'm right, and this _is _who I think it is, we're in trouble. How do I explain this?" She paused for a moment before going on. "Back in the previous timeline, there was a man called Demando, who was the head of a clan of Dark Moon followers. They didn't believe in Crystal Tokyo, that the lifespan of the country was wrong and it went against God's will for humankind. Serenity and Endymion banished them to a forgotten moon where once another criminal had been sent: the Dark Moon, as they soon began to call themselves. On this moon, they found a power source to aid them in attacking the earth in hopes to reclaim it and set it back on 'God's will'.

"During an attack, Demando caught sight of Neo Queen Serenity and desired her as his queen like nothing else he had ever desired for before. When a frontal assault against Crystal Tokyo and the palace accomplished nothing, they decided that with their newfound power they would go back into the past and change time from there. The past when all the Senshi were only fourteen and had just rid themselves and the earth of Beryl. That was when Chibiusa came back to the past, carrying the crystal of the future which could not be used except by Neo Queen Serenity, who was locked in a coffin of quartz as the only way of protection the Senshi had as one of the attacks at Crystal Tokyo palace would have hit her instead. All except for Endymion, in Crystal Tokyo, were in stasis. The Senshi themselves became nothing more than to exist to power a barrier to protect the palace and keep the Dark Moon from entering. In this way, the war was paused in stalemate until our enemies went back into the past.

"After many trials, the Senshi followed Chibiusa into the future to 'free' her mother and wake her. During this trip, Usagi and Mamoru or more accurately, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, found out that Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion were their future selves. But they had to go back to the past, as two of the same person cannot exist in the same time. When they landed in the past, they found the Chibiusa, who had gone missing, was turned against them, from a 6 year old to an adult, Black Lady.

"Behind Demando, fueling his urge for conquest was the Death Phantom. The Death Phantom was the one who had turned Chibiusa into Black Lady. Eventually Death Phantom revealed that he had a hidden agenda to destroy the earth, rather than just conquer it. Black Lady, who had been wiped of all memory of the good times in her life, was trying to help him succeed in this. Through the perseverance of Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, and the present/past Senshi, Black Lady was returned to Chibiusa and together they defeated the Death Phantom and the Dark Moon clan."

"So what is the problem here?" asked Haruka.

"The problem is that the man that is able to frighten the US president into doing what he wants," Setsuna answered, "may be Demando."

There was not any immediate concern evident in their faces, but they did exchange glances. Finally, Keagan spoke up. "Okay, so if it is Demando, what would he be planning to accomplish now? Does he still want to destroy the earth?"

The Time Guardian was hesitant in answering. "I do not know if they have the Death Phantom on their side, or if there is anyone else besides Demando helping him to accomplish whatever he wants. In the other timeline, Demando had almost no powers of his own except that of the power source they found on the Dark Moon and from the Death Phantom. I don't know if that holds true here. If it does, then he bodes little problem for us, assuming the Death Phantom has not found him and aided his cause."

"But I never outlawed anyone from the earth," Serenity protested. "How could he want to destroy it because of that?"

"Just because you haven't done one thing to him, doesn't mean he doesn't have another motive for destruction," Hotaru murmured quietly. "It could be that Demando had _that _as the main reason he wanted to destroy the earth for, but there could be others that are the main reason now."

"How do we find him?" Minako questioned. "Does he have the Death Phantom on his side? Has he been to this Dark Moon? Does this planet exist in this timeline? There are so many questions and we have no answers."

"Here's the main thing we should ask ourselves," Artemis told them from Minako's lap. "We need to ask ourselves if we should alert the other heads of states to this problem. And also, do we ask the president of the United States just what happened between himself and Demando."

"That's all assuming this man _is _Demando," Endymion cautioned. "Let's not forget that Setsuna is not sure. Tread carefully, is all I'm saying."

"Endymion's right," Nick seconded. "This could just be someone who dyed their hair white, and the man who said that the US president was afraid could have been seeing things."

"But supposing, just supposing," Makoto interrupted, "that everything Setsuna just told us has come true in this timeline. What do we do about it if we're the only ones capable of fighting his magic with our own?"

"That's where the problem lies," Setsuna said gravely.

"Did anybody else find anything else out?" Michiru inquired. "My mirror hasn't shown me a thing, though it _does _project an unnamed warning to be careful."

"The Fire hasn't been exactly forthcoming either," Rei muttered dejectedly. "I keep trying, but it's almost as if something is blocking it. Or that it just won't tell me anything. I get snapshots of images, but they're gone so quickly that it's impossible to make them out."

"Nick?" prompted Luna.

He sighed. "I'm not getting much more than you all at this point. I almost seemed to have something one time, but then when I could almost see what it was, it was like the stars jerked back from me and refused to let me see it. If you're asking if I have anything new to add the answer would be…no."

"Mama?"

As one, the adults in the room turned to the door to see a crying Chibiusa there, clutching her birthday present from Setsuna, Luna-P. 

"What is it, baby?" Serenity asked, kneeling next to her daughter, followed by her husband.

"The kids outside where I was playing called me names and made fun of my hair! They said that I was a weirdo!" The child's voice rose five decibels and her tears fell faster.

Endymion picked up his daughter and hugged her. "Don't worry about those kids. They're just jealous that you're so beautiful and they wish they looked like you."

"Yeah, Chibi-chan," Makoto encouraged. "Don't let them get to you. They don't know anything."

Chibiusa sniffled a bit and looked at her parents. "Really?"

Serenity nodded. "Absolutely. Why don't you go play with Pyralis? I'm sure he's waiting for you."

The crown princess dropped to the ground from her father's arms and with a nod, headed toward the nursery. 

There was silence in the room after that, with the questions they didn't know the answers to plaguing the air.

End Chapter 10

See? I got a chapter out. HoE will be up soon, I hope. I'm just fighting with my keyboard so I'm having a hard time typing.


	12. Chapter 11: Cover of Darkness

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 11: Cover of Darkness_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deep in the darkness of her fears, she worried. It ate away at her until she could barely sleep at night. Nothing could console her; nothing could make the anxiety go away. Down in her heart, she knew what it was that she feared the most:

Serenity and Endymion.

As little time as she had known the man, she knew that Endymion was as dear to her as Serenity. And she feared them leaving her the most. What would happen if they were somehow gone, taken from her? Taken from Chibiusa? Even though she was the godmother, how could she explain to the child that her failure had resulted in the loss of her parents? What would _Serenity's _parents say to her when, after all she had done to bring their daughter back, she lost her permanently without a single hope of seeing her again?

Makoto rang the doorbell to the Tsukino home, waiting for Serenity's parents to answer. Serenity's father had become much the same to her over the past year and a half and it was very hard to reconcile the thought of him turning from her because she failed.

"Makoto, dear. What are you doing here?"

She looked up at Ikuko's surprised face and asked somberly, "May I come in. I need to talk to you all."

Alerted by her grim tone, the older woman allowed her to pass and quickly gathered up her family. "What is it, Makoto?" prompted her husband, Kenji.

"We've been trying to keep this under wraps, but you deserve to know. Lately there has been some disturbing news concerning Crystal Tokyo and Serenity and Endymion. There have been two assassination attempts when we were at the World Council. We've dealt with the assassins and their…guild," she assured their worried looks, "but what has us even more worried is that now we are on their council. Apparently it was not on our own merits that got us on there." She related what they had learned and Setsuna's thoughts.

"So, I wanted to let you know where Crystal Tokyo is standing and what threatens it to fall."

There was silence settling around her as her voice faded away into a memory. Ikuko's eyes were filling up with tears at the thought of losing her daughter, like Makoto knew it would happen. Shingo was almost desperate in his appearance, trying to figure out a way to help. Kenji…Kenji's eyes stared straight into hers.

"But as long as you're there, nothing can happen to our daughter, can it?"

She hesitated every so slightly. "As long as we don't fail…no, nothing can happen to your daughter."

"And if you fail?"

"Then you have my permission to take your shotgun and shoot me."

The three of them blinked at the deadly serious tone she used. "Why would we shoot you?" asked Ikuko faintly.

Her frustration boiled up to the top and she yelled, "Because if Serenity and Endymion die, then I don't wanna live! If they die, then I have nothing to live for. I lost them before I even knew I had them…and that was painful enough! I don't want to lose them, _knowing _I had them."

"You're not going to fail, Makoto-san," Shingo told her sincerely. "I know you'll protect my sister and her husband and that nothing bad will happen while you're there."

"How do you know? _What _do you know? I failed in the past, I failed in the present…How do you know I won't fail in the future?"

"Because I trust you."

The Soldier of Protection couldn't find anything to say after that.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Mako-chan, where are you? We got a lead."

Her ears immediately picked up on Haruka's voice and she snatched out her communicator turned cellphone while maneuvering her car amidst heavy traffic. "What lead?"

"Where are you?"

"On the freeway, heading back toward you. I visited Usagi's parents and let them know what was going on. _What_ lead?"

"Rei got a line in the fire about a major conflict coming up concerning this white-haired _gentleman_," And the tall woman's voice filled with scorn on the last word. "Apparently according to her prediction and Michiru's mirror, he's going to meet with the US President tomorrow afternoon, in a surprise visit. Minako's plan is for the Outers to be there with Setsuna, so she can see if this is Demando, of the Dark Moon. But it's basically a given that this man is supernatural and has otherworldly powers like us, so even if he isn't, our work isn't finished quite yet."

"_Only_ the Outers? Why only you?"

"Because Keagan and Minako aren't going to take any chances and we all agree that while we could be there, something could happen here. It is the same reason that the Outers stayed in Crystal Tokyo while you and the Shitennou went to that World Council thing."

"Fine," she snapped and honked angrily as someone cut her off. "I'll be at the palace in five."

"Makoto," she said severely over the phone, "be careful on that expressway. Even _I _don't take chances there."

She only hung up the phone without answering and concentrated on speeding her way back to the Crystal Palace and her friends.

~~~~~~~~~

"I sincerely hope you're right about this."

"She is," Uranus answered the influential ruler, somewhat crossly. "Pluto has seen what he is and what he is capable of. And Mars is never wrong when it comes to being a Senshi, and even _less _wrong when it comes to her Sacred Fire."

"Some time in the afternoon? Its noon now…"

"Just because it is noon here and now, in your country, does not mean that it is noon where he is or where we are," Saturn told him in her quiet voice. "Time is relative to where and _who_ you are, right Pluto?"

The Time Guardian nodded her head absently, obviously concentrating on some thought bouncing around in her head. 

Suddenly her partner's head snapped up from her mirror and she whispered, "He's coming."

The four of them melded into the shadows and waited until the man showed himself.

When he did, he warped into the room and forced the air to mold around his appearance. He was relatively good-looking, but the horrible mockery of a smug smirk on his face made it hard to like him at first glance. His hair was, indeed, of the purest white and her hands ached in sympathy at the thought of whoever washed that immaculate white suit. Hanging from his earlobes were a pair of sleek, silver earrings. Emblazoned on his brow was an upturned, black crescent moon.

"Have we succeeded in getting Crystal Tokyo into a world power yet?" he asked in a low but dangerous purr.

The US President wiped his brow and put on an excellent act of being surprised at his sudden and unannounced presence. "They are on the World Council, as you specified, but…a world power? They made it perfectly clear that they did not want a seat as a world power, though when it comes to offensive weapons, they do rate."

"Well, since you have succeeded in getting them a world seat, I will not be forced to murder another batch of your men that are little threat or protection against me. But you _will _make them a world power."

"I can't."

He suddenly frowned. "You can't _what_?"

"I _can't_ make them into a world power. That isn't in _my _power to do. That depends solely on their own country and what that country's rulers wish for it."

Placing his hands on the dark mahogany desk, he leaned forward into the President's face. By this time, he was sweating bullets and was obviously in fear for his life.

"You _make _them into a world power. I don't care how you do it, as long as you _do _it."

"I told you I _can't._"

"Them I'm afraid that you will find another group of the men that swore to protect you murdered at your feet."

"No…"

"You can do _nothing _to stop me."

"He can't, but _we _can," Uranus snapped as the four of them showed themselves.

The man whirled around and stared at them, his eyes widening with something akin to horror. "What…what are _you_ doing here?"

"Mars caught a whiff of your foul stench and that it would be here," Neptune answered smugly, "and we just hurried over to see you."

"What is your purpose in having Crystal Tokyo as a world power?" Saturn asked him calmly. She shifted the hand that held her Silence Glaive slightly, drawing the man's attention to it.

"That's for me to know and you to always wonder about." And with that closing statement, he had faded away into nothing.

"Is that him, Pluto?" the Soldier of the Heavens questioned.

"Yes, that is Demando of the Black Moon."

"What do we do about finding out what he plans to do?" Her partner linked her arm with hers as she spoke and they prepared to teleport away.

"I think it is an achievement that we know that it is him _at all_, at this point," Pluto gently reprimanded.

"Wait! What are you doing? Where are you going? He's going to kill more people!"

They turned to the nearly hysteric man behind the desk. "Don't worry," Pluto told him, "he won't be coming back here."

"Why not?"

"Since he knows that _we _know that he has been coming here. It would be an easy thing for us to just watch and wait until he shows himself and we attack him. No, he is not so stupid as all that, though I wish to the heaven's that he was."

"Why?"

"Because that means we have a very long battle ahead of us.

~~~~~~~~~

End of Chapter 11

We're getting somewhere now! I think that around Chapter 17, I'm predicting (though I could be wrong), the story will be wrapped up. 


	13. Chapter 12: Finding Valkyrie

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 12: Finding Valkyrie_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So it is him," Minako murmured when she heard the news.

"Yes. And now we must prepare for he has some plan that we do not know of," Setsuna replied agitatedly.

It was the only time that Zale had ever seen her fidget before and it sent him into a state of near paralyzing fear. If _she _was having worries, then it was time to seriously look at what was going to be happening _real _soon.

"But what is he trying to accomplish exactly?" questioned Jace.

"The only one who can possibly tell is Rei," Keagan said. "Let's hope she can see something in her Sacred Fire. Is she there now, Jace?"

"Yes. She's been there for nearly three hours now."

"Since Setsuna can't see anything in the timeline, she's our only hope."

~~~~~~~~

Her inner sight strained to pick out something among a multitude of nothings. He just wasn't there…! 

Rei sighed and calmed her mind, glancing behind her at her son, sleeping on a blanket. _Poor baby_, she thought. _I just haven't had the time to be with you…and neither has Jace. I always thought that protecting someone would have a strain on relationships and marriages, but I never once thought about how it would affect the children of those doing the protecting._

She turned her attention back to the burning flames in front of her, calm at the Hikawa Shrine. _Ojii-chan, help me out on this one_, she prayed and sent her psyche down into the depths of the fire.

It was almost as if she wandered there forever, trying to find something. But her desperateness was distorting everything she saw…her feelings were getting in the way…Just as she was about to pull away again, something caught her sight. It was almost as though she had just seen a blinking light from far away, something that drew her to it as her last hope.

And just as she had calmed down, thinking that this could be what she sought, the vision overtook her…

_@~~~~~~~_

_Her body wasn't hers anymore, something else but she was controlling her, making her go places and see things. She was a prisoner in her own body…couldn't control what she was doing in the vision._

_ The feet that weren't hers anymore strode with purpose to the throne room of the __Crystal__Palace__, searching for her Queen._

_She was on her dais, but the way she sat was almost as if she was a prisoner there. The Ginzuishou, which was always in her staff before, sat on a cushion across the room and surrounded by a glass box that had a lock on it. _

_The Soldier looked around the room, seeing only Mercury, Saturn, and Pluto. They appeared haggard and the gentle laugh lines around their eyes and mouths were gone, as it they didn't even smile anymore. _

_But sitting next to Serenity was **not**__Endymion._

_He was a relatively tall man, with white hair that fell to his shoulders. Around his neck was a silver key that glinted in the light. His hands manicured and perfected, and his pristine white suit had not a single wrinkle in it. He lounged in the throne as if he had been born in it, with a hand tightly gripping Serenity's wrist. Standing on his right was a man with dark sapphire hair. There was a resemblance between them, only he wore a blue jacket over his white pants, unlike the man on the throne._

_"Mars."_

_She turned to see Mercury approaching her. "Yes?"_

_"There's been some revolting in the west. Should we send in the droids?"_

_Her eyebrows drew together and she asked, "In the __US__? Why should we get involved in their affairs?"_

_Mercury quickly looked around in fear, but no one had noticed them or their conversation. "Are you all right, Mars?"_

_"I'm fine. And why are we asking me? Where's Venus?"_

_The name caught some attention and the people near the throne, Serenity included, looked at the two of them. _

_Surprising her with the strength, Mercury grabbed her arm and nearly dragged her from the room. "What is wrong with you, Mars?" she hissed._

_"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" Mars retorted._

_"You know as well as I do just where Venus is!"_

_"Oh yeah? Then enlighten me as to what I know!"_

_"She's dead!"_

_Though it was whispered rather than yelled, the two words felt like a scream in Mars' ears. "What…what about Kunzite and the others? What about Jadeite?" she stuttered._

_Her friend's eyes filled with tears. "I don't know why you don't know, but they're dead too. You should know they died with Endymion."_

_"What happened here?"_

_"Follow me."_

_Numb, she did as told and they ended up in the computer surveillance room. The Soldier of Wisdom threw everyone out as Mars looked at the screens. Nearly thousands of screens, which was a hundred times more than what she knew they had, displayed areas all over the world. The __Tower__ of __Pisa__ was half destroyed; there were areas she recognized from the __US__ in the next screen over. Why was Crystal Tokyo caring about what happened in the other countries?_

_The door locked and Mercury stared at her hard. "Let's refresh your memory a bit. I know you've had the habit of disappearing lately and you may have just hit your head. Around five years ago, there was a world war, but it was not like any other. Just after King Demando took the throne, he set about to conquer the world. And he did. Now Crystal Tokyo is the only power in the world. His droids did most of the work while we stood by and commanded them."_

_"When he took the throne?! What about Endymion? And the Shitennou?"_

_Again, Mercury's eyes filled with tears. "I'm not sure how he infiltrated into the palace or how he managed to get the Ginzuishou and Golden Crystal away from Serenity and Endymion, but…he did. He captured Endymion and threatened Serenity, saying that if she wanted him to stay alive, she would marry him. In fear and believing him, she did so. No sooner had the ceremony ended did he set about as a wedding gift: in front of the entire world, who had been watching the ceremony, he murdered Endymion as a message that someone new was on the throne. Then the Shitennou, who had not made a move for fear Endymion **would **die, were each executed horrifically for trying to avenge his death. Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune were killed in front of the world not two months later when they tried to stage a coup de tat."_

_"And…why didn't we help them?" she asked breathlessly, fighting the pain she felt at the news of Jadeite's death._

_"Venus wanted some Senshi to stay behind in case it didn't work, so there would still be someone to protect Serenity. You gave her a fight, but she ended up being right. It wasn't three days into the marriage that he had already set about his plan to conquer the world with his right hands: Sapphire, his brother, and Rubeus and Esmeraude."_

_"What about Chibiusa? Pyralis?"_

_"Chibiusa…she had an 'accident' and…died even as I tried to save her. Pyralis…he had an 'accident' too. And when I gave birth, Demando had my child killed too."_

_"Why?!"_

_Mercury sighed heavily and wiped away some of the tears. "Because Chibiusa wasn't his daughter…she was Endymion's. And he had Pyralis and my baby killed because they were the children of the Shitennou. He didn't want any chance for revolt especially not from within Crystal Tokyo. Now he's trying to get Serenity pregnant."_

_"And will he?" she demanded, angry._

_A satisfied gleam grew in her eyes. "Not in this life," she whispered harshly. "When Serenity came to me, telling me what he wanted, I gave her something to drink every night for a week that would, when finished, destroy her chances for ever having birth to a child again. He won't have any children with Serenity!"_

_"Why is the Ginzuishou locked up? And where is the Golden __Crystal__?"_

_"It's a way of controlling Serenity. She can't use it unless he tells her to. As for the Golden __Crystal__…nobody knows. Endymion didn't have it when he was murdered and none of the Shitennou had it. We don't know where it is."_

_Mars took a moment to assimilate what she had been told and her knees shook even as she stood still. "Where are Luna and Artemis?"_

_"Locked up in the dungeon he's installed. They're hanging on by a thread and will die soon." Tears threatened at her eyes again. "By the time I realized they were being poisoned, it was too late. Now all we can do is make them comfortable for their last days."_

_"Was the man next to…Demando his brother?"_

_"Yes, that was Sapphire." She paused and listened. "We must stop talking now; we're going to be listened in soon by one of Demando's right hands."_

_"We're going to kill him, Mercury. We're going to kill him if I have to do it myself."_

_"That's what Venus said and she's dead now."_

_The Soldier of Wisdom exited the room, leaving Mars alone with her horrible thoughts…_

_@~~~~~~~~_

Rei jerked out of the vision so violently that she landed hard on her back. Fear gripped her tightly. With shaking but quick hands, she picked up her son and almost ran back to the palace.

~~~~~~

End Chapter 12.

Ooh, bad vision huh? Look for Chapter 13 soon to see what the Senshi and Shitennou are going to do to prevent it.


	14. Chapter 13: Chariots of Fire

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 13: Chariots of Fire_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was as Mars was relating her vision to her comrades when the alarms of the Crystal Palace went on full blast, nearly shattering everyone's hearing. Blessing their luck that they were already transformed, the Senshi rushed to the Shitennou in the security room.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded Venus. "As far as I can see, nothing has attacked Crystal Tokyo. There are no yelling, screaming, cursing, blasts—"

"That's because that alarm isn't for the safety of the Palace, but for outside threats."

Venus whirled around as the Outers made their appearance. "When did Mercury put that in? And why wasn't I notified?"

"Mercury didn't put it in, Pluto did, when you were at that World Council thing," Uranus explained grimly. "I just didn't think of it to tell you, in light of everything else that has been going on."

"So a threat is approaching the Earth? But Demando is already here," protested Jupiter.

"Demando may be, but if what my vision says is true, his compatriots are not. That may be them, with force," Mars interjected. Her violet eyes were shadowed and worried, she alone knowing the full force of fear that she had felt during that vision. The others…why she may have told them, they did not feel it like she had. She had been there, knew what it had felt like to hear it from Mercury's own lips and to see with her own eyes. She did not think the horror of that vision would be leaving her any time soon.

"Are they here yet, Zoisite?"

Zoisite touched a number of keys and relayed to his superior, "No. They're nearing the planet, but they haven't entered the atmosphere yet."

"Can you tell how many ships may be out there?" questioned Jadeite, leaning over the other blonde's shoulder.

"No, not yet. The satellites surrounding Earth just aren't equipped enough to tell that. If we had some of our technology up there, _maybe_ we would be able to tell. _Maybe_. We'll just have to wait until they hit atmo to find out."

"I hate waiting," Nephrite said in the ensuing silence.

~~~

"Reports are coming in from all over the globe of giant spaceships landing. Many people have described hard to believe things: fire shooting from the palms of those who came from the ships, black lightning rains down on cities. Civilians and loved ones collapsing for no reason, as if their very energy were being taken from them. Such things have never been recorded before and are unheard of in this day and age. Self proclaimed witches are theorizing that we are unequipped for such an assault. All except the newly recognized Crystal Tokyo. The governments are maintaining that they are able to deal with this threat and—"

Serenity and Endymion exchanged glances as the screen flickered from the newscast man to a face that though they didn't know, they feared. An upturned, black crescent moon sat on his forehead like a beacon and the smile he gave was cold.

"People of Earth, I am Prince Demando from the Black Moon. You have held your dying planet in your clutches long enough, destroying it. I plan to revitalize it…with the help of Neo Queen Serenity." As if he was looking straight at her, he said, "My dear Queen, please wait for me. I will be there soon and we shall rule this Earth and make it green and wondrous again."

Serenity's hand sought and found her husband's. She couldn't help her trembling, after hearing about Rei's vision three days ago. Could it be possible that he had enough power to accomplish his goal?

"You know that the other countries will think that this is what you were planning," Endymion murmured as he switched off the TV.

"Endymion?"

He looked at her when her soft voice drew his attention. Her deep blue eyes were wide with fear and her hand gripped his tightly. "What is it, Serenity?" he whispered, holding her close.

"You won't…you won't let what Rei saw come true, will you?"

"Never. We'll be together forever, us and Chibiusa."

She took a deep breath and managed to say, "Then I can deal with this. I can."

~~~

Venus and her Senshi contingent entered the room first, with wary eyes at all they saw. It was not three hours ago that Venus had sent the Outers to find out what they could about the extent of Demando's army.

Serenity and Endymion entered next, with the Shitennou behind them. Though it had broken their hearts to do it, they had left their daughter with Serenity's parents. They had then proceeded to hide her family securely.

All of the eight warriors were armed to the teeth and made no effort to hide it. The Senshi's wings were out and ready, the Shitennou's weapons within easy reach of their hands. The leaders of the various countries watched them silently as they stood in the center of the circular room.

Finally the US president spoke, "Do you know what this is all about? What do these people want?"

"Mars?"

At Endymion's unspoken request, the Soldier of War told in painstaking detail what she had seen. Though her face didn't change, and though she held herself stiffly, it was obvious to everyone there that what she was saying bothered her a great deal. When her voice faded off, no one's picked up.

"So you see what will happen if they are not stopped," Endymion told them.

"But how do we stop these…invaders?" demanded the French president. "They…they can…"

"They can use magic," Serenity supplied gravely. "The only way we can protect and win the Earth back from them, is to combine every single countries' armies and weapons and fight together. Crystal Tokyo will fight the Black Moon with or without help, but…we will not be able to win against them. There are only the Senshi, Shitennou, and my and Endymion's magic against them."

"What can we do to fight them, if the entire world except those you mentioned doesn't have magic?" questioned Spain's leader.

"From what we can tell from Mars' vision," Endymion continued, "their entire army seems to be 'droids', not humans and they cannot use magic. It seems that the only ones that can are Demando and the contingent nearest to his rank. As of this moment, the other four Senshi are observing just how many Demando has under his command. If the supposition is correct, and only a few in high ranks have magic, then it is somewhat simpler, though still hard. The Senshi and Shitennou can target those magical forces, while the armies of the world, including Crystal Tokyo's, can fight the droids. Serenity and I will target Demando himself."

"What special magic do you have?"

The leaders exchanged glances at the British Prime Minister's question. They had never actually _told _any of the leaders just what the Ginzuishou and the Golden Crystal were capable of.

"We have something that can stop him, but it difficult to explain," temporized Endymion.

Just as an outbreak of questions hit them at the evasion to the question, the entire building shook. Protectors threw themselves on their charges all around the room as a hail of brick, mortar, and steel rained down from an explosion in the wall. 

"So there you are, my dear Serenity."

The sudden wind that had accompanied the explosion died quickly, as if it feared the group levitating into the room. Venus motioned towards her Senshi and the Soldiers quickly jumped up to attack the newcomers.

"Star Children!" The beams and stars of Venus' attack burst from her hands as she held her arms tightly to her sides. Disappearing from surrounding her, they burst through the air toward Demando.

A man wearing white slacks and a dark cobalt jacket blocked it. His sapphire hair was short and bounced around his startling features as he glared at her, standing in front of Demando. Venus growled in anger.

"Diamond Dust!"

Sparkles of ice blue light circled Mercury's form. Her hand rose above her head and an ice corridor appeared around the four. Barely jumping out of the way, a column of ice formed in the center and shot up. Mercury brought her arm down in a horizontal arc and a thin blast of blue light erupted in its wake, flying unerringly at the ice column and shattering it.

Spiky red hair and deep garnet eyes glared at her as he blocked the attack toward his leader. He wore a bright red vest with hunter green pants. Black boots reached his calves and crunched on the slowly disappearing magical ice. Mercury stared on in shock.

"Thunder God!"

"Final Burst!"

Jupiter's tiara extended; her fist crackled with lightning and she thrust it toward the ceiling. Lightning and wind flew down and struck it. Her body was encased in lightning and lifted four feet above the ground. She jerked her body from her fetal position and thrust her palm towards her monarchs' enemies. 

Fire flamed at Mars' back, replacing her wings temporarily, and encasing her in an eggshell. She lowered herself down on one knee, as if kneeling in front of a monarch and fire swept in horizontal and vertical angles. She stood up slowly and twirled five times, faster each time. The fire at her back burst toward her opponents.

The lightning and fire intertwined into one cohesive blast and with the destruction left in its wake, both Senshi were sure that they must have gotten at least on of them, if not Demando himself.

But when the dust settled, a woman in a green mini-dress and a pink veil laughed at them. Her light green hair fell to her waist and she flipped it over her shoulder haughtily.

"Impossible," Jupiter muttered in shock.

And through it all, Demando did not even blink.

With a rallying cry, the Senshi burst forth in a flurry of movement and the three other fighters met them head on. Demando walked unhurriedly toward the Shitennou and Serenity and Endymion. He held out his hand toward the Queen in white, saying, "My dear Serenity, please come with me. Our marriage ceremony will be renowned for eternity."

Nephrite slammed his fist onto Demando's jaw, using the sheer shock of the prince to his advantage. "In case you hadn't known, here's a news flash: _She's already married_."

Demando rubbed his jaw and a sickly smile touched his lips. Nephrite didn't even have a moment to comprehend that when he was flying backward through the air. He landed hard on the ground next to the US president, who cowered behind his secret service agents.

At that moment, a few leaders attempted to leave, but they found droids at all the exits.

"I don't think you'll be leaving," Demando told them conversationally. 

Kunzite, Jadeite, and Zoisite drew their swords, the bright sunlight glinting off their armor and white uniforms. Nephrite drew himself up to his feet, panting slightly, and gripped his weapon.

"There is no way you're leaving with Serenity," hissed Kunzite, his voice still managing to overpower the battles going on with the Senshi and Demando's followers. "She's married to Endymion and his happy where she is."

Demando shook his head. "I'm afraid she'll be a widow within three minutes."

Jadeite saw red and thrust his sword at Demando's heart, but the surprise of an attack had worn off with Nephrite's punch. The prince neatly slammed a fist in Jadeite's stomach and knocked the blade from the King's hand. "Don't ever attack me again," he whispered in his ear as a ball of black lightning knocked him back.

"Demando, leave now."

Suddenly all battles ended and there was silence as the Black Moon prince stared at Endymion and Serenity. Both held glowing crystals in their hands and stared at him.

Demando just smirked. "I don't think so. What can your crystals do to _me_?"

Simultaneous blasts of silver and gold flew toward him, but a shield held off most of the damage. Serenity and Endymion didn't let up, and kept pouring on the power despite worried protests from their friends.

In order to prevent Demando's followers from going to his aid, the Senshi engaged them again in a fierce battle, knowing the only way to stop their friends from pouring so much power and dying as a result was to end the battle as quickly as possible. Perhaps if Demando knew his comrades could not come to his aid…

"You're power cannot defeat me!"

With a spell of his own, the magical battle became a contest of wills. Jadeite dragged himself to his feet and the Shitennou surrounded the couple, adding their own power, but also dividing it evenly so Endymion and Serenity wouldn't die because their body overloading with power.

With now not only two people, but five against him, Demando called to his friends only to find them beaten back by the Senshi. Left with no alternative except to die, if he stayed, the prince called a retreat.

Silence reigned in the destroyed room.

Kunzite caught Endymion and Zoisite caught Serenity when the King and Queen collapsed in exhaustion.

~~~

End Chapter 13.

I'm really sorry that this came out so late…I've been extremely busy and just didn't have the time to spare until now. Thanks for reading the story this far! More action coming up as well as an entire planet war!


	15. Chapter 14: First Assault

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 14: First Assault_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The screen flickered and on television sets around the world, a pair of faces filled the box. Blonde hair separated in long streamers fell past her shoulders. Next to her was a tall man with short black locks and piercing royal blue eyes.

On the top of their heads, two crowns sat.

Just behind them, people could see various world leaders, all rallying in support of the couple in front. Every once in a while, someone would shift and there would be a glance of a woman or man, or perhaps a strand of black or bright blond hair from off-camera.

"People of the Earth, we are the rulers of Crystal Tokyo," the woman began. "Behind us are the rulers of your countries. We are here to tell you what is going on: the man you saw on your TV a while back was Demando, leader of the Black Moon. His plan is to take over the Earth, to rule it as sole leader."

The man picked up where she had left off. "We are here today, to fight him. Demando," And his eyes were hard and hatred radiated off of him, "if you want a war, then the Earth shall answer. Prepare for war, because we will defeat you."

~~~~~

Demando swirled the wine is his cup and contemplated the television screen in front of him. So the entire Earth declared war against him, hmm? Well that was easily overcome. What did the countries of Earth think they could do against him? Against the Black Moon? No, the only one that should concern him would be Crystal Tokyo, and those warriors that fought for his future Queen.

"Sapphire."

Not just his brother Sapphire appeared, but also Rubeus and Esmeraude. His eyes lingered slightly on the green-haired woman, knowing full well that she desired him like he desired Serenity. But though she followed him and he did perhaps feel something for her, Serenity was more…He _had _to have her.

"Yes, brother?"

"You saw?"

"Yes."

"What exactly do they think they can do?" Rubeus demanded smugly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"My thoughts exactly. The only one we should worry about is the defenders of Crystal Tokyo. Tell me, you fought them. What are the strengths of the Senshi? Are they strong enough to defeat us?"

The three of them exchanged glances, obviously choosing to have Sapphire deliver whatever news they had. After his brother cleared his throat a bit, he began to talk hesitantly.

"They are strong, brother. Stronger than we had anticipated. I do think that if there were more than four of them, they could defeat us. But as it is—"

"There _are_ more than four of them."

"What??"

The three voices simultaneously assaulted him, but he only smiled slightly inside at their shock. "Yes, there are four more."

"Eight Senshi and add those four male warriors and I think we have a problem," muttered Rubeus, counting up the odds in his head. "Only the three of us and you, my Prince, have any magical powers. Our droids won't last against them, certainly. We may be stronger than them, but their numbers of magical users outweighs us. They will exhaust our magic long before we do them."

"Not if we have some leverage to prevent them from attacking."

They looked up at him in surprise. "What are you suggesting?" his brother asked, a light in his eyes saying that he was catching on.

"I'm saying let's get something that will make them think twice about attacking."

"Like what?" Esmeraude questioned cautiously, not seeming to like where this was going.

An image of Neo-Queen Serenity floated in the air. "Her. Esmeraude, I leave you in charge of this." Her mouth opened, perhaps in protest, and he dropped his voice to a purr. "And if you succeed in this, I will be _very_ pleased."

She closed her mouth suddenly and he knew his plan had worked. Even though she hated the idea, in order to please him she would succeed in it.

"But an assault on Crystal Tokyo?" muttered Sapphire skeptically. "Do you think you'll be able to do it?"

"Absolutely." She laughed behind her fan, but deep in her eyes, Demando could see the worry.

His attention turned back to the image and he took a sip of his drink. Soon she would be his.

~~~~

The explosion shook the entire palace and sent Kunzite running out to see what had happened. He was joined a moment later by Venus. Their grim moods took in what they saw with a sinking heart. They had not expected an attack so _soon_. Or perhaps, they had not anticipated it to be at Crystal Tokyo.

Droids ran rampart through the city, wounding badly and killing citizens as they made their way to the palace with a single-minded intensity. Floating in the air was the woman with green hair.

She watched the attack with serious eyes, the smug and superior smile she had shown them at the council building gone. A slightly green aura floated around her form. When her eyes met theirs, she did nothing but stare.

"Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite!" Kunzite snapped into his communicator. "Get Serenity, Endymion, Chibiusa, and Pyralis out of here! Once they're gone, get back here to fight!"

Venus was already giving orders of her own. "Mars, Jupiter, Mercury! Evacuate the civilians from the palace immediately! Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn! Meet me at the palace doors to fight the enemy! Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, when you have evacuated the civilians, meet me and the other Senshi in battle."

Affirmatives from both his own communicator and Venus' made a chorus of agreement, barely able to hear it at all over the sounds of screaming and destruction. Kunzite, steeling his spine and resolve, was about to jump into battle when another kind of scream shattered everything and turned him into a cold lump of fear.

**_"Serenity!"_**

****

Down below near a side door that was used for emergency royal evacuation, Endymion was screaming out his beloved's name as a dark bubble surrounded her, dragging her upward toward the green-haired woman. At Endymion's feet, Jadeite, Nephrite, and Zoisite were trying to move, but it was obvious from where he was standing that the multiple wounds they had, that their lives were in serious jeopardy.

**_"Serenity!"_**

****

Venus' voice was just as loud as Endymion's had been and she rushed forward toward their enemy. Before he could pull her back, a blast of power slammed her into the palace walls. She slid down and didn't move.

**_"Venus!"_**

****

The thought that his wife was dead, that Serenity was being taken away, and his friends were dying took over and suddenly he wasn't sure what he was doing exactly. He ran forward, but neither to Venus nor his friends. 

He ran to Endymion, preventing him at the last second from making the same foolish move that Venus had.

"Let me go! _Serenity!_"

"And let you die? No!"

Endymion struggled in his grip, but Kunzite's arms were like steel cables. Seeing Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars run from the palace, he screamed at them, "Find the Outers and help them!"

"What about Serenity?" demanded Mars.

Kunzite's eyes slammed into hers and his icy cold control made her follow his order without another argument.

**_"Endymion! Help me!"_**

Hearing the raw fear in her voice, his king redoubled his efforts to break free. He almost succeeded, too, until Kunzite could get a firmer grip on his arms.

**_"Serenity!"_**

"Endymion, what do you think you're doing? Don't you have something called the Golden Crystal?"

His friend didn't even acknowledge that he heard him, but the crystal blossomed before his chest. A blast that sent shockwaves throughout the ground and shook the foundations of every building still standing pierced through the air and straight at the green-haired woman.

It met some sort of shield that began to immediately turn a reddish color under the extreme amount of magical stress.

To prevent his friend from heaping so much power into the crystal and dying, Kunzite let his own magic to touch inside Endymion. With his power boosting it, the golden light's diameter went from five feet to fifteen. The dark bubble holding the Queen shattered and she fell as the green-haired woman drew every inch of power she had to protect herself.

Kunzite was not particularly worried because there were seven Senshi gathered together and they caught her expertly. The thought of seven, and not eight, Senshi sent fear and self-loathing up his spine. It was his fault for being too slow to save his wife. 

The barrier shattered, but in the seconds it took for it dissolve, the woman was gone.

~~~~

End Chapter 14.

Should be almost done now…HoE is put on hold until this is done. I just don't have time to write two right at the same time.


	16. Chapter 15: Into the Storm

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 15: Into the Storm_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How are they?"

Mercury looked up at Uranus' tense face and glanced back at her four patients. "Nephrite and Jadeite will make it, but I'm not sure about Zoisite or Venus." And she could only imagine how much effort it took the woman to say her husband's bleak chances in the bright light of day.

She slammed her fist into her palm. "I'm going to kill that bastard when I get my hands on her! How's Serenity?"

"Shaken, but no injuries."

"Do you think she'll be able to go through with the war?"

A wry smile touched the Soldier's lips. "If anything, this attack made her _more_ determined to go through with the war."

She glanced around the room speculatively. "Where's Kunzite?"

"He hasn't been in here since I told him that Venus was pregnant."

"She was _what_?"

"She's pregnant…and I don't think he could handle that fact coupling with that she might not survive."

"And how is _yours_?"

Mercury touched her stomach, which after the few months had managed to bulge a bit. "I hope that the child will have a chance to know its father."

Uranus nodded a bit and left the medical room to find Kunzite.

~~~~~

The man was going to wear himself into exhaustion, which was obvious to her eye. She had watched him from the shadows for nearly twenty minutes and he had yet to slow down and take a deep breath.

"If you don't rest, you'll collapse," she said, striding up next to him.

He didn't seem surprised to find her there. "Right now, resting is a low priority. The city was hit badly and we're still reeling. If the Dark Moon strikes again, the war will be over and the Earth will have lost. I refuse to let that vision of Mars' come true."

"While you have a point, I concede that, you still won't do any good if you wear yourself out. But if you refuse to listen to reason, why should I waste my breath?"

"Uranus?"

She turned to see Serenity in the doorway. A true smile broke out on her face at the presence of the queen. "Hey, Koneko-chan."

"Did you visit the infirmary yet?"

Glancing away, she nodded, her smile gone.

"How are they?"

Her eyes trained on Kunzite, she answered, "Nephrite and Jadeite will be fine, but Zoisite and Venus may not make it."

She gasped in dismay and a tear slid down her cheek. Gently, Uranus approached her queen and pulled her into a comforting embrace. "I wouldn't worry; we have the best doctor in the world with them and Saturn will do her level best once she recovers from healing Nephrite and Jadeite. I'm sure they will be fine."

And she absolutely believed it. What Mercury could not do, Saturn could. They made an incredible, unbeatable team when it came to healing someone. As long as Saturn recovered her energy as quickly as possible, there was almost a surety that Venus and Zoisite would survive.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Kunzite slid from the room and went in the direction of the infirmary.

~~~~

"Mars?"

The Soldier of War turned around, her eyes haunted. "Yes?"

Pluto strode up to her and whispered, "You are the second-in-command of the Senshi; now the leader. What are we to do?"

"I'm only the leader if Venus dies," she replied in a tight voice.

The older woman gripped her arm and forcefully turned her to face her. "Venus might not make it and you need to be a leader. Even if she _does_ make it, right now she isn't in a position to make any decisions and _you_ have to do it. If we fall apart right now, your vision _will _come true!"

Her words were like a slap in the face and Mars straightened. "I won't ever let that happen," she vowed.

"Then act like it; Kunzite can't do it _all_ and right now, he's wearing thin what with two of his men critically injured, another near death's door, and his wife may be dying. You need to help him out."

She nodded and hiked herself out the room. There was no way she was going to let that vision come true…and if she didn't do something while Venus was injured, she would never be able to look at herself again when Venus _did_ get better. And the best way to make Venus get better was if they were winning the war.

~~~

Having finally decided that it was their turn to strike and where, Jupiter stretched her muscles. She was going to make the Dark Moon pay for injuring her husband…

Due to the fact that four of them were still injured and Mercury and Saturn had to stay behind to heal them, it would only be Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Mars, Kunzite, and herself that would be assaulting the Dark Moon's base.

"I just hope that the United States' army holds up its end at the right time," Mars muttered beside her. "Our _personal_ survival depends on them."

"I'm more worried about France's army," she replied as she gathered in the teleportation room and fixed on their headsets that would link them directly to Serenity and Endymion, telling them when and where to aim their crystals.

"They do seem kind of flakey," the priestess reluctantly agreed.

Kunzite strode into the room, adjusting his headset accordingly to their frequency. "Ready?"

"Absolutely," hissed Uranus, with the expression that Jupiter had only seen once before: during the final battle with Daray, she had looked like that, like she was a stone-cold killer; someone that didn't feel the slightest bit of emotion when going after their set goal.

She felt in complete accord with her.

They joined hands tightly and focused on their goal, implanting the image of the Dark Moon base that was somewhere in New Zealand firmly into their minds.

"Teleport!"

Bright colors filled the room and leaked through the cracks of the closed door. Mercury and Saturn glanced up as they felt the teleportation and switched on their headsets, hoping that they would not be needed there. If they were, that meant…

That meant everything had gone to hell in a hand basket.

~~~

"Be careful where you step," cautioned Neptune. "There's nearly a 90% chance that there are traps all _over_ this place."

"Do you think they felt our power signature and that we're here?" questioned Jupiter, glancing around.

The walls were a dark stone jade color and seemed to absorb light, instead of reflect it. Under her feet, it seemed like the flooring was obsidian crystal and yet transparent at the same time. She shuddered a bit and looked away. There what appeared to be cells all along the walls. Cells? What on earth would there be cells for?

"I wouldn't doubt it, that's nearly a given," replied Pluto.

Mars had gone to investigate the cells and let out a horrified cry as she peered into one of them.

"What is it?" snapped Kunzite as they crowded around her.

"Yuuichirou! Somebody help me open this door," she told them as she frantically tugged on the handle.

With their combined strength, it opened with a screaming protest of hinges. The Soldier of War dragged him out, but by her shocked dismay and pained expression, there was no pulse. Tears fell down her cheeks as she wept, rocking herself back and forth in despair.

Neptune knelt next to her and comfortingly held her, though there was little she could do to stem the woman's grief.

"They're going to pay for this."

They looked up at Pluto's quiet, but emotion and determined filled voice. Mars' eyes changed from despair to rock-hard hatred. She would _never_ let them get away with this, if she had to rip them apart with her bare hands.

~~~

End Chapter 15


	17. Chapter 16: On the Danger Line

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 16: On the Danger Line_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With rage, the Senshi stalked through the monotonous gray and drab green halls. Kunzite kept them going mercilessly, feeling no tiredness or irritation. His attention was completely focused on his goal. Nothing penetrated his determined mind.

Strangely enough, they met not a single thing as they moved through the maze of corridors, not even guard-droids. At first they were grateful for it, as it enabled them to conserve their energy, but after so long the only sound of their shoes on the floor and echoing down the hall really began to wear on their nerves.

"Kunzite, where _is_…everything!" demanded Mars, itching to release some of her nervous energy. And itching to deliver some revenge for Yuuichirou.

Finally it seemed to dawn on Kunzite through his single-minded intensity and he stopped walking. He looked around suspiciously. "I don't know…it's almost as if they're expecting us and are waiting for us."

"That's impossible," hissed Uranus. "They couldn't possibly know that we were _going_ to be here. I'm not disputing that they know probably know we _are _here, but how could they know in _advance_?"

"Maybe they just don't have any guards?" Jupiter suggested doubtfully.

"Unlikely," Neptune responded, glancing at the mirror in her hands. "I don't see a thing."

Pluto, who had been silent since speaking down in the dungeons, suddenly lunged with a screamed, "Jupiter, look out!"

The Senshi saw in a blink the droid made of some kind of sticky substance headed straight for her at high speed before the Time Guardian slammed her to the floor.

"Meteor Strike!"

Uranus' hand closed into fist over her heart. The earth exploded around her in a circle and a meteor hurtled down from the ceiling toward her. It connected with the stones circling her and seemed to bounce off it and veer toward droid.

The droid saw it and simply looked at it. At the point that the meteor would have hit it, it suddenly threw itself at the approaching threat and covered it like a thick red outside layer. The magical attack faded away and with a smug look, the droid re-formed into its somewhat humanoid form.

Uranus' partner wasn't as shocked as her and immediately jumped into action.

"Grand Stream!"

An ocean of water surrounded Neptune and she twirled twice, her arms thrust out to direct her water. The water flew up and fell like a waterfall over the droid and it screamed as the water broke down the jelly-like-substance that made up its form.

There was nothing in front of them anymore except for a pool of goo, even though they waited to see if anything else would attack them. 

Nothing did.

"I guess this place isn't as empty as we thought," Mars muttered as the two Senshi stood and straightened themselves out.

"Let's move on," Kunzite ordered, though he made sure to pay attention to the outside world around him and not just his thoughts.

They ran into only two other droids, each of which were easily defeated by Mars' Final Burst and Kunzite's Sword for the King.

"Does this hallway look like the last one we just went through?"

Jupiter's companions took a close look at the walls and floors, coming to the startling conclusion that it did.

"We're wasting time down here!" Kunzite snapped. "Where the hell is exit?"

Both Mars and Neptune immediately concentrated on their psychic and talisman abilities. There was an uncomfortable silence while the others waited, ready for any attack that might come.

After a moment, Neptune looked up and regretfully shook her head. "There's something about this place that's messing with my mirror. Every time I try to ask for a direction, it shows me three different paths, none of which that we have found in the first place."

Mars, though, had some more uplifting news. Her eyes were far away as she looked at Kunzite. "There's a hidden staircase behind that wall. The rest of this floor is nothing but a circle and we've been gone around it three times."

Kunzite followed the Senshi's pointing finger and pulled out his sword, Endymion focused in the center of his mind. "Sword for the King!"

The blade glowed brightly, casting shadows all over the area. He drew it in a quick arc near the floor and made a decisive gesture at the wall. Three consecutive blasts shaped like sword blades spiraled around in a circle headed straight for it. With an explosion worthy of a first-rate Silver Dragon by Venus, dust, stone, and mortar flew high in the air.

Pluto waved away the particles of debris from her face and commented dryly, "If they didn't know we were here before, they know now. That attack reverberated throughout the complex."

The Shitennou gave her a quick glare and stalked up the stairs, the Senshi hastening to follow.

~~~~~~

They heard the wall being magically rebuilt behind them and it was then that they knew it had been a trap. Stone suddenly became permeable like a sponge and flexed on either side of them.

"Run!"

Following Kunzite's lead, the six of them pelted for the exit at the top of the stairs. Rocks and other limestone fell from the ceiling and making them jump over obstacles. Almost as if the very ground was like water, it rippled beneath their feet and made the running treacherous at best.

Neptune screamed in pain as a large chunk of falling masonry caught her back.

"Thunder God!"

Jupiter's attack ripped through the stone that had pinned the fallen Soldier.

"Keep running!" Kunzite screamed. "Jupiter!"

"I got it!"

Using the inborn strength of someone born on the Jovian planet, Jupiter picked Neptune up in her arms and proceeded to run desperately. It took all of Mars and Pluto's strength to keep Uranus running forward and not backward toward her beloved. Neptune was unconscious, but she did not seem to be critically injured.

"It's just ahead; keep running!" Mars panted, her hand firmly gripping Uranus' arm and towing her forward.

"I don't think you'll make it, however. I, Crimson Rubeus, won't allow it."

The air wavered and the man with bright red hair materialized, floating slightly above them and not even caring about the shaking staircase and stones that threatened to brain him if it hit him.

"Astral Drain!"

Mist covered Pluto's running body and the jewel on her tightly gripped staff glowed bright red. Bracing her feet abruptly, she thrust the key-shaped end toward Rubeus. Pale purple light sprouted around her, tossing her hair into the air. Maroon rays flew from her Time Key to the man.

He held off her attack narrowly. "Go!" the Senshi of Time screamed, keeping her staff pointed straight at Rubeus and keeping up her barrage of power.

"We're not leaving you here!" snapped Uranus, but she was already being thrust through the door by Kunzite by the time she finished speaking.

Mars, with a backward and painful glance, followed.

Kunzite motioned frantically for Jupiter, lagging behind because of the weight in her arms. The Soldier of Protection was looking weary and tired, but the determination in her eyes proclaimed that she would run until she could no longer move at all.

As she passed the Soldier of Time, standing stock still in the middle of the continuing rubble, her green eyes met with those garnets. For half a second, it seemed as if time had slowed down and Jupiter remembered when she had first met her, talked with her in the alley with mistrust.

But most of all, she remembered when she had met with Setsuna in the park and the others for the first time and she had introduced herself.

@-----

_"I am Sailor Pluto, guardian of the Gate of Time. It is time for the Princess's Inner Guard and Court to awaken. Mercury, Mars, Venus," She looked straight at Makoto, "and Jupiter."_

**_………_**

_Her shoulders were tight and taunt as she turned around to the blond woman. "We must be careful. If the enemy hears even a wisp of a Senshi, we'll be up to our ears in youma, daemons, and whatever else he might think up. It is imperative that no one knows who and what we are. With these five arguing about it at the top of their lungs it is a wonder the entire block doesn't know who and what we are by now."_

_Makoto glared at Setsuna and her hands clenched into fists. "Look, it was **you** who came to me! I didn't ask for this! You'll just have to deal with a few questions that you refuse to answer. I'll just leave."_

_Setsuna looked at her with calm eyes. "You wouldn't leave."_

@------

The moment ended as quickly as it had begun. Her legs had not stopped moving and she was at the door in moments. Uranus was already waiting and jerked the Soldier of the Depths from her arms. Jupiter, after an assessing glance at Kunzite, jumped over the debris that was now trying to clog the doorway.

"Sword for the King!" While Kunzite's magical attack distracted Rubeus, he yelled, "Pluto, come on!"

She broke into a run and let her attack drain out. The Shitennou kept the man busy as the Time Guardian lunged the last few feet and into collapsing doorway. Arms helped their companion still trapped just as the last of the huge boulders collapsed, trapping Rubeus inside.

Jupiter collapsed to her knees, gasping. "Is he dead?"

"I certainly hope so," retorted Kunzite, breathing just as heavily as the green Senshi.

"Well he may be, but I'm certainly not."

Tiredly, they looked up and saw the woman that they had expected. It only seemed to irritate her that did not seem surprised or shocked at her arrival, only tired.

To recover her bearings, she continued on pointlessly, as the Senshi weren't listening, "While Rubeus and I may have fought a lot, we were still clan members. You _will _pay for his death."

Kunzite, his sword already out, pointed it at her, looking suddenly much more awake than he had been before once her posturing was done. "Then let's get down to it, shall we?"

~~~~

End Chapter 16.

I know I'm evil for ending it there. Okay, this story is almost done and I figure about two more chapters left before then.

On a side-note, I now have a website, folks! So if there are any Senshi/Shitennou romance readers/writers, please check it out, as it has been created to host such stories. If you would like to submit, please read the submitting page, that's all I ask. Thanks!

It's called, We Loved, Forever


	18. Chapter 17: Bloodstained Battlefield

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 17: Bloodstained Battlefield_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a stalemate of exhaustion.

Neptune tried to stand up, but only succeeded in getting to one knee. She had depleted all her magic about an hour ago, as had the others and Esmeraude, as the woman had introduced herself.

About a half an hour ago, they had resorted to physical fighting. Though they had been tired beyond belief, and looked bleak, the numbers were in the Senshi's favor, due to the fact that there were more of them.

She looked over to the body of the green-haired woman. Unlike as if she had been defeated by magic, she was broken and bruised, attesting how she had died. The Soldier of the Depths shuddered a bit, preferring not to dwell on such topics of death and destruction. She found it all very morbid.

"Can anybody stand?"

Her head lifted slightly at Jupiter's question. The Protection Soldier was lying on her back and staring at the ceiling, as if she couldn't even call up the energy to move her eyes.

"…Not really," replied Mars.

"Come on, we have to get up and finish this. There's still that blue-haired man that Pluto says is Demando's brother lurking around," ordered Kunzite.

Neptune watched interestedly as the man attempted to follow his own orders…without any success whatsoever.

"Tell me how to do that exactly," Uranus retorted, holding her broken arm close to her chest.

Pluto, on Neptune's left, rolled over onto her stomach. Or rather, more like flopped over, as if she were a fish out of water. "Oooh, that hurts. Somehow I didn't think that over five thousand years of solitude would actually look appealing."

"And you would want to go back to solitude…why?" she asked.

Those garnet eyes raked over her tired and tattered form. "Because it's safer that way and I don't feel as if I was a punching bag."

"This is almost too easy."

Neptune looked up, with a suddenly heavy heart.

Demando and who could only be his brother walked from the shadows to survey them critically. "I thought that you said they were powerful," Demando commented to the man beside him.

"So did I."

They snickered together.

"It looks like within minutes, Serenity will be mine."

Neptune's blood burned at that prince's words and she staggered to her feet abruptly. "Speak that name again and I'll cut out your tongue," she told him viciously, having picked up a habit of brutal threats from her lover when she was extremely angry.

"I would love to see you try."

Suddenly the man next to the prince was in front of him. "Touch my brother and I will cut out your _heart_!"

"Sapphire…" Demando's hand touched his shoulder, but nothing appeared to have changed because of it.

The threat to her beloved got Uranus up on her feet faster than she could actually expect her to. Or her own body either, because she immediately fell back down onto the ground and groaned.

"I don't think we have a choice," muttered Kunzite and touched his earpiece.

"Kunzite, no! It's like admitting defeat to call them!" snapped Jupiter, fear almost in her voice.

"We don't have any choice," the man retorted. "We're done. Nobody except Neptune has had any success in standing."

Just as he finished, Neptune fell to her knees, unable to hold herself up any longer.

The silence was eloquent enough.

Sapphire's attack flew at the Ocean Senshi, but there was not much she could do except stare it down. She didn't have the energy to do anything.

"Silent Wall!"

The attack bounced forcefully off of Saturn's shield, the Soldier of Death not looking even strained by that amount of power. She was unutterably calm and held her Silence Glaive in front of her like the dangerous weapon it was.

"Diamond Dust!"

Taking advantage of the stunned men after their abrupt teleportation, Mercury's magical barrage of ice slammed into both of them. They went flying toward the opposite wall where they slumped on floor as they slid down.

"You called us?" Mercury asked, as she turned around. Just by looking at them, however, she could see why they had.

"Enough!"

Demando had regained his feet and glared at them with deep hatred. "Two more Senshi hardly make a difference, not when this is _my_ home ground."

Sapphire staggered, but managed to stand. "There's no way you can defeat us together."

"Or apart," amended Demando, gripping his brother's hand tightly in his own. 

"They're going to be a tough pair," Saturn observed. "The second we get one down, it's going to increase the other because of the emotional connection they have. Their bond of family is nearly as deep as Endymion and Serenity's love."

"That…is bad," commented Jupiter, managing to sit up.

"Dark Combined Power!"

Two streams of dark purple light merged together to make a blast of black heading straight for the Senshi. Saturn reinforced her shield, but even so the sheer shock of it connected as strongly as it did made her slide back a few feet. The men didn't let up and the barrier shattered. However, the attack had faded out, so Saturn wasn't hurt, just thrown back by the suddenness of it.

"Death Dimension!"

Like the one time she had used it before against Daray, the area around them wavered like water and what replaced it strongly resembled many people's idea of what hell would look like, from their deepest and darkest nightmares. Her dark purple aura appeared and the glaive's blade glowed brightly. Saturn's eyes slit open and she looked calmly at the men, sending shivers of apprehension down their spines. The glaive, gripped tightly in her hands, thrust high in the air. Magical lightning arced toward it, but it was repelled away by a magical barrier. 

Her purple light surrounded Sapphire and Demando, hovering just around the edges of their bodies, and she pointed the glaive at them. Saturn floated above the floor and black and purple vines burst from the ground, holding them both in a tight but painful embrace like a second skin. Screams echoed in the Senshi's ears as their life began to leech out of them.

Saturn extended her arm and snapped calmly, the attack ending and leaving their enemy drained extensively of life, magic, and will. The area wavered and became the room inside the Black Moon's base once again.

Sapphire fell to his knees, but Demando grabbed his shoulders and dragged him back to his feet, placing himself in front of the younger man. His body was shaking, they could see it from there, but he still glared defiantly at them.

"Sword for the King!"

"Meteor Strike!"

"Grand Stream!"

The three attacks went flying at them, brightening up the room like a supernova. What seemed to be an explosion shook the ground and they were sure they had gotten at least Demando.

But when the dust settled, arms covered in a dark blue coat were around Demando's waist, supporting a sudden shield.

"Sapphire…"

Demando's voice was full of shock and he half turned to look at the man behind him.

"NOW!"

Pluto's voice galvanized them into action and with their strongest attacks, they yelled out, alerting Demando and Sapphire from their own world.

"Shimatta!"

The shield held against the onslot, but it was only a matter of time before it broke and the men both knew it. Neptune had a hope that perhaps the Ginzuishou and Golden Crystal wouldn't be needed.

But when Mars faltered, and then Uranus, she knew that their power wouldn't be enough to continue to be used. They would run out of power before the shield shattered.

And she was right, Mars, Uranus, and Jupiter both dropped out of the magical barrage, barely able to remain conscious with the sudden lack of energy to support them. Pluto and Kunzite's slowly petered out until they were no longer contributing either, and Neptune, despite her very best efforts, couldn't hold out any longer either.

That left only Mercury and Saturn to continue. The two Soldiers were admirable and held up longer than she had any right to expect, but having to pour more power into the attack to make up for the lack of their comrades was taking its toll.

Demando and Sapphire were faltering, but so were Mercury and Saturn. "Hold in there, Mercury!"

Saturn's screaming voice drew everyone's attention, as she had never spoken anything above what could be considered a whisper. The strain in her intonation was obvious, but she gave no inclination to break off. She would continue until she died…

"Silver Dragon!"

"Wind of the Tiger!"

"Flame of the Phoenix!"

"Dragon of the Seas!"

Neptune couldn't help gasping in shock as she heard not only Venus' voice, but Nephrite's, Zoisite's, and Jadeite's.

Demando screamed as the power against them increased. "Sapphire…I love you, my brother!"

"I'm sorry I couldn't hold…"

She felt a small pang in her heart as she heard their last words to each other. They had really loved each other…would have done anything the other asked of them. That kind of bond, the strength of it, was hard to come by.

Venus wavered on her feet and fell full out on the floor, gasping painfully. Mercury managed to catch her husband as his legs gave out, but both Nephrite and Jadeite painfully touched the ground, their wounds giving them no relief.

Kunzite crawled over to his wife and pulled her into his arms, admonishing the four of them angrily. 

"What the hell are the four of you _doing_ here? You're all injured and this little excursion could be…" He swallowed with difficulty, "…enough to kill you."

"Come on, admit it," Jadeite said, somewhat rudely from his position on the floor as his wife bent over him, "you _needed_ my Dragon of the Seas. You couldn't have defeated him without it."

"You just want to take all the credit," Nephrite retorted good-naturedly. "It was my Wind of the Tiger that was the deciding factor."

"You're both full of it," jumped in Zoisite. "My Flame of the Phoenix that did it."

"Oh shut up, you three," Uranus snapped, tired and hurting and in no mood to put up their teasing. "Just be glad we defeated him, period."

_"Self-destruction process begun. There is one minute left before total destruction. Please evacuate immediately."_

The dispassionate voice practically shattered their hearts. Mercury unceremoniously dropped her husband onto his behind and pulled out her computer. She gasped a few seconds later. "The sheer power in this base is enough to destroy half the Earth!"

"Can you stop it?" barked Venus from her compromising position in Kunzite's lap.

"No. The only choice is to…destroy it ourselves."

"And the only power enough to do that is…the crystals," Zoisite translated in the heavy quietness.

The voice in the silence proclaimed only 70 seconds left.

~~~

End Chapter 17


	19. Chapter 18: Final Voyage

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Chapter 18: Final Voyage_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you absolutely sure, Mercury?"

The Soldier nodded unhappily at Pluto's question. "No doubt. But we have to disable the shield around this place first, otherwise Serenity and Endymion won't have the time to destroy the base. Otherwise they'll waste precious seconds needed to destroy this place before it destroys half the world."

"Where's the control panel to disable the shield?"

Mercury turned back to her computer at Venus' sharp inquiry. "Too far away for someone to run to it, turn it off, and get back here to teleport out safely."

"Then we'll all die here," muttered Nephrite, his face firmly planted on the floor as he hurt too much to move at all.

"No, everyone else leaves. I'll deactivate the shield."

"Kunzite, you can't! Not in your condition," contradicted Mars passionately. "You'd never make it there!"

"I'll do it."

The Soldiers all began to argue with Venus' statement until Kunzite's roaring "Silence!" quieted them down.

"Venus, you're in even worse condition than me and I'm doing this. Enough said. Now teleport out of here, all of you, and tell Endymion and Serenity to aim their crystals at this gods-forsaken base and _destroy it_. Where is the control panel, Mercury?"

The Senshi of Mercury was clearly unhappy about telling him the location and was about to argue the point when that hated voice came again, telling them that they had fifty seconds left to get out before the base blew. She described where he had to go and what it would look like, despite her urge to argue it out with him.

All through her directions, Venus pleaded from her position in her husband's lap, hoping to save him from going through with his obvious plan to deactivate the shield at the cost of his life.

Kunzite's resolve didn't waver and when he had the directions firmly fixed in his head, he stood, passing his wife into Saturn's arms. He nodded to them, kissed his wife goodbye, and ran ahead into the hallway that Demando and Sapphire had appeared from.

"Let's go."

Venus' voice was harsh and forbid any kind of speech. With 30 seconds left ringing in their ears, the Soldiers managed to get into some kind of circle and teleport away, tears fighting to fall from the Soldier of Love's eyes.

Serenity and Endymion, along with the other heads of the various countries, watched as the armies of the Black Moon falter and fall apart. The US president gave a "whoop" of satisfaction, saying, "They did it!"

But the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo felt fear settle in their guts. They hadn't had to use the Ginzuishou and Golden Crystal, hadn't once heard from the Senshi and Kunzite in the Dark Moon's base. Light shined from behind them and they whirled to see haggard warriors, Venus, Zoisite, Nephrite, and Jadeite among them.

Relief _wanted_ to sweep through Endymion, like it obviously had for his beloved, but something was terribly wrong to him: All the Shitennou were there except for Kunzite. Where was the leading Shitennou?

"Where's Kunzite?" he demanded lowly, fear worming its way into his heart.

"Don't be celebrating just yet," Venus told them from her prone position on the floor. She fought to lift her head a bit, but despair and pain made it a difficult venture. With help from Mercury, she managed to sit up. "Your Majesties, please aim your crystals at the Dark Moon base and destroy it. It has a self-destruction spell set and will blow in 15 seconds. It has enough power to destroy half the Earth with it if you don't."

_"Where's Kunzite?!"_

She finally looked at her King. "He's still in the base, deactivating the shield."

"We can't destroy it, if he's still in the base," protested Serenity.

_"Do it!"_ Venus snapped, her hand balling into a fist to hold in her emotions. "He'll never make it out in time before it blows. If you don't do it, his death will be in vain!"

"But Venus…he's your…"

"It doesn't matter if he's my husband," she screamed, startling the other presidents at the declaration, they who had not known of their relationship. "The Earth and you both are more important and if that base blows we all die! He's sacrificing his life because he loves you all and this planet. Are you going to belittle his sacrifice?"

Endymion glanced in the direction of the base, his heart breaking into a thousand pieces. He knew Venus was right, but he didn't want to admit it. The Golden Crystal glowed and shined its light in the room.

"Endymion!" gasped Serenity, shocked. "You're not going to—"

"Venus is right, Serenity. As much as it hurts, she's right. Kunzite would never forgive me if I didn't."

A beam of bright gold power slammed through the wall in the straightest path to the Dark Moon base. He could feel Serenity staring at him in horror and Venus yelling at her to "Do it!" But nothing could penetrate into the guilt of what he was doing. Maybe if he'd just been Prince Endymion, or the Tuxedo Kamen that Pluto had said he had become in that alternate timeline, he could have saved his friend, but he was King and had to think of his people first. Kunzite knew that as well and was putting the people first, instead of himself.

Ever so slowly, Serenity's power joined his and attacked the base. The power didn't encounter any resistance and as Mercury said "2 seconds left", the base was destroyed in a blast of light.

~~~~

Kunzite felt his fingers go numb and clunky with weariness as he put in the code Mercury said would deactivate the shield. 15 seconds left.

In his heart, he was saying goodbye to Endymion and his friends in a way that he could never say aloud, but knew that they would understand without speaking. His beloved, he knew, would do her duty to convince the monarchs to attack the base even though it would be tearing her up inside. He hadn't wanted to add anymore burdens on his wife's shoulders, but there had been no other way.

_"7 seconds remaining. Please evacuate the base."_

He didn't know what to do with the last seven seconds of his life. Glancing around, taking in the last things he'd see, he spotted an interesting diagram on the floor. Curiously, he approached it. 

_"2 seconds remaining. Please evacuate the base."_

Just as he stepped on it, his world exploded in light.

~~~~

End Chapter 18.

Only an epilogue left.


	20. Epilogue

Author's Note:

This is a sequel to Angelic Embrace. I thought about doing it, but I didn't until someone told me they thought a sequel was possible. You will really want to read the first one to find out what's going on.

As we all know the names of the Senshi, there's no need to go there, except to say that I use the Japanese names. 

For a review, I'll list the names of the Shitennou:

Keagan Kris MacNeal (Kunzite)

Nick Michael Canter (Nephrite)

Jace Daniel Taencer (Jadeite)

Zale James Indiano (Zoisite)

You can contact me at Guardian4@cox.net. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Last Journey_

_Epilogue_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serenity dropped to her knees listlessly as the base's remains settled into dust on the ground, the image of it projected from a small military monitor on the right side of the room. Silence surrounded her. She wanted to stand and comfort her husband, who she knew was in pain three times as worse as she, but she couldn't make herself move from the floor.

"I'm sorry…for your loss."

She recognized the voice of President Bush and turned just in time to see the injured Nephrite surge to his feet and plant his fist on the man's jaw. His earth brown eyes smoldered in rage and he towered above the leader. Bush rubbed his jaw and motioned for his men to back down when they had instinctively reached for their guns.

"How dare you say that! Did we say "I'm sorry" when your twin towers were destroyed? Did we say "I'm sorry" when your men were killed by Demando? What do you know about it?! Just…_shut up_!"

Jupiter staggered her way to her husband and gently held him in her arms, where he cried softly. Zoisite sat in a heap on the floor, comforted uselessly by his wife. He muttered over and over about how long they had known each other and it was impossible for his friend to have died like that. His denials weren't enough to convince him though, nor anyone else. Jadeite busied himself with not thinking about it, even though Mars kept trying to get him to talk about it and relieve the ache in his heart.

Venus, surrounded by Pluto, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, made no movement whatsoever. Her eyes remain fixed on the image of the destroyed base in the small monitor screen. The other Senshi were trying their best to bring her out of her dazed trance like state, but nothing seemed to penetrate.

Serenity stood and touched her husband's arm. He was staring at nothing, the wind from the hole in the wall playing with his clothes and hair. His sapphire eyes seemed lost.

"Endymion?"

She barely heard him when he answered.

"I've known Keagan for years, countless years. Whenever I really needed help, I knew he would be there, him and the other Shitennou. Now…he's not here. I feel…empty. He had always believed in me, even when I was in that coma for ten years, he still believed in me. He had always believed that I would come out of it one day. He was always there at my bedside. I knew he was there, but I could never make myself move and answer him. Now what do I do? What are we going to do without him?"

"I don't know. I don't know what Chibiusa will do without her godfather."

The monarchs had chosen their close friends, Keagan and Minako, to be the godparents of their child, baby princess Chibiusa. Without one…she wondered what would happen to Venus in the years to come.

"Kunzite…"

"Yes?"

It was as if someone had poured freezing cold water on the people in the room. Endymion's head snapped up at the reply to his wistfully said name. The man in question seemed unutterably confused and tired, as if he didn't understand how he had gotten there in the first place.

Before anyone, even Venus, could assimilate his sudden appearance, Endymion had launched himself at his friend. His arms became like steel cables, holding the man tightly and almost sobbing into his shoulder.

Kunzite couldn't quite comprehend the normally reserved King weeping into his shoulder, but nevertheless, his arms went around him.

"How…"

He looked up at Venus' shocked question. "I have _no _idea. After I took down the shield, I didn't know what to do. Then there was an explosion of light and I was here."

"Wait." The people in the room, those not Senshi and from Crystal Tokyo keeping quiet, turned to Pluto. A glint appeared in her eye and she asked, "Was there some kind of design on the floor?"

"Well…yes, there was. In a corner. It looked like two serpents circling each other over a crystal."

"It suddenly makes sense," she muttered. For the benefit of all, she explained her findings. "In order to make it possible for him to teleport from the Dark Moon base, he had to have a buffer for his power. Once he was gone, he had enough power to go anywhere, as all he had to do was draw from the magic of the world, but when in order to leave the Dark Moon, he had to have an added strength. The Dark Moon must have made several teleporters throughout the complex and you happened to step on one in the nick of time. I'm surprised they still worked after we had destroyed Demando and Sapphire."

Venus, with the help of Mercury, stood and made her way to her husband, a disbelieving look in her eyes. Endymion, being the gentleman that he was, let go of his close friend to allow the woman her chance to welcome home the man she loved.

Serenity linked her arm with her King and murmured, "I think this went well. Selene watched over us."

He nodded and turned to the world leaders. "I think its time to go back to our country to rebuild what has been destroyed. We saved the earth together; I think this is a very good start to our relations."

President Bush smiled and nodded. "Absolutely."

~~~~

End The Last Journey.

Well, I finally finished the story. What do you all think? Now I'll be able to really work on HoE and my attention won't be taken away so much. I really hoped you liked it; thanks for reading so much. Be sure to check out my site We Loved, Forever ()


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